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PRINCETON,    N.    J, 


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vJ77  z.6-j^<:^ 

THE  ALTON  SERMONS 


\ 


THE 


ALTON    SERMONS 


BY 

AUGUSTUS  W.   HARE. 


ANSON    D.   F.    RANDOLPH    &   COMPANY, 

7TU  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK, 

COkNKK    NINTH    STREET. 


yS;H^ 


THE   INHABITANTS 
OF   ALTON   BARNES,   AND  ALTON   PRIORS, 

lEhesc    ^crmons    are    ^tbicatcb, 

ACCORDING  TO  THE  DESIRE 

OF   THEIR    LATE    AFFECTIONATE    MINISTER, 

WHOSE    DYING    PRAYERS, 

THOUGH    HE    WAS    ABSENT   FROM    THEM    IN    THE 

BODY, 

.  WERE  OFFERED  UP 

FOR  HIS  BELOVED  PEOPLE. 


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p  r-)  r  --  .A  Y,  r--  '-  --r        ^^f^T 


•i.  ^  ^^  -^  J  ^  O  u- 1  U  Xi  L  i- 


'T^HIS  collection  contains  those  Sermons  of  Augustus 
William  Hare  which  were  especially  connected  with 
his  brief  ministerial  life  amid  his  beloved  people  of  Alton- 
Barnes.  With  an  almost  more  than  parental  interest  both 
in  their  spiritual  and  temporal  concerns,  he  there  strove,  in 
his  tiny  village  church,  to  impress  the  truths  of  a  loving, 
large-hearted  Christianity  upon  the  souls  of  his  parishioners, 
and  there  his  words  are  still  treasured,  with  his  memory,  by 
the  shepherds  and  poor  working-women  who  heard  them. 
After  his  death  "  The  Alton  Sermons  "  obtained,  through 
many  editions,  a  notoriety  he  had  little  sought  or  anticipated; 
but  in  later  years  they  have  been  comparatively  forgotten, 
and  it  has  been  suggested  that  those  who  are  only  acquainted 
with  them  through  *'The  Memorials  of  a  Quiet  Life"  may 
be  glad  to  receive  them  in  the  accompanying  volume. 

HoLMHURST,  November,  1873. 


CONTENTS. 


} 


I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 


THE 


PREPARATION 


THE  PREACHER'S  BLESSING;   OR,  THE  HAPPY  NEW  YEAR 

GRACE,    PEACE,    AND   KNOWLEDGE  . 

GROWTH   IN  GRACE 

DO  AND  YOU   SHALL  KNOW;    OR,  THE    WILL  AND 

DOCTRINE 

FAITH 

THE  GOSPEL   LEAVEN  .  •  •  • 

THE   ANGELS   TEXT 

THE   EPIPHANY;    OR,    FAR   AND  NIGH 

REPENTANCE      

CONVINCE    A    MAN    OF    SIN;    THE    BEST 

FOR  PASSION   WEEK        .  .  .  • 

THE  ATONEMENT 

THE   GOSPEL  NEWS;    OR,    CHRIST'S   VICTORY 

RISE  WITH  CHRIST 

THE  ASCENSION 

CHRIST'S   DISINTERESTEDNESS   OUR   PATTERN 

CHRIST'S   GIFTS 

HOLY     BRANCHES;     OR,    WHY    WAS     THE     TRINITY 
VEALED  ? 

THE  FOOLISH  MOCKERS 

THE   UNJUST   STEWARD      . 
,   THE  EVIL  EYE 


RE' 


PAGE 

I 

12 

31 

42 

56 
64 
80 

101 

112 

124  J 

135  • 

147- 

161 

172 

183 

198 

215 

228 

239 


X  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

XXI.    A   CONSCIENCE   VOID    OF    OFFENCE  ;     OR,    THE   CHRIS- 
TIAN  ON    HIS   TRIAL 249 

XXII.    TREES   OF   RIGHTEOUSNESS 258 

XXIII.  HARVEST  LESSONS 269 

XXIV.  USE  THE  BIBLE 278 

XXV.   THE   BEST   CHRISTIAN,    THE  BEST   PATRIOT  .  .  292 

XXVI.    LOCK    AND    KEY;    OR,    PROPHECY   AND    INTERPRETA- 
TION  OF   PROPHECY 302 

XXVII.   PRINCIPLES    ABOVE    RULES  ;     OR,   WHEAT    IS    BETTER 

THAN   BREAD 320 

XXVIII.    PRAY  WITH   THE   SPIRIT 33O 

XXIX.    PRAY  WITH   THE   UNDERSTANDING        ....  346 

XXX.  liturgy:  first  part,    confession         .        .        .  359 

XXXI.  liturgy:  second  part,    psalms  AND  lessons     .  371 

XXXII.   liturgy:    third  part,      collects  AND  LITANY       .  384 

XXXIII.   THE  lord's  PRAYER:    FIRST  PART.      THE  ADDRESS   .  396 

XXXIV.   THE   LORD'S   PRAYER  :    SECOND  PART.      GOD'S   NAME  : 

JUSTICE  AND   MERCY 408 

XXXV.   THE  lord's  PRAYER  :  THIRD  PART.    GOD'S  THREEFOLD 

KINGDOM 418 

XXXVI.    THE   lord's    PRAYER:     FOURTH   PART.      GOD'S   AVILL, 

NOT   OURS 431 

XXXVII.   THE   LORD'S   PRAYER:    FIFTH   PART.      DAILY    BREAD    .  442 

XXXVIII.   THE   lord's   PRAYER  :     SIXTH    PART.      FORGIVENESS    .  456 

XXXIX.   THE  lord's   PRAYER  :    SEVENTH  PART.     TEMPTATIONS 

AND    EVILS 471 

XL.   IDOLATRY 487 

XLI.   THE  THIRD  AND   FOURTH   COMMANDMENTS  .  .  5O1 

XLII.   THE   GOOD   OF  THE  COMMANLMENTS   OF   THE   SECOND 

TABLE 515 

XLIII.    OBEDIENCE 524 

XLIV.    LOVE,   THE   FULFILLING   OF   THE   LAW  .  .  .538 

XLV.    ANSWERABLE,    AND    NOT    ANSWERABLE  ;     OR,    WHAT 

IS   CONFIRMATION  ? 549 

XLVI.   god's  patience,   AND  MAN'S  PERVERSENESS       .  .  564 


\tiisoloqic:. 


I. 


THE  PREACHER'S  BLESSING; 

OR, 

THE  HAPPY  NEW  YEAR. 

Numbers  vi.  22—26. 

And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Speak  unto  Aaron 
and  unto  his  sons,  saying,  On  this  wise  ye  shall  bless  the 
children  of  Israel,  saying  unto  them,  The  Lord  bless  thee,  and 
keep  thee  :  the  Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,  and  be 
gracious  unto  thee :  the  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon 
thee,  and  give  thee  peace. 

O  UCH,  my  brethren,  was  the  blessing  which  Aaron  and 
*^  his  successors,  the  Jewish  priests,  wera  to  pronounce 
by  the  Lord's  appointment  over  the  people  of  God ;  and  I 
know  no  words  of  pious  greeting  better  suited  to  this  day. 
New  Year's  Day  so  seldom  falls  on  a  Sunday,  that,  when  it 
does,  it  would  be  a  pity  to  let  it  slip,  without  wishing  you  all 
a  happy  new  year,  according  to  the  good  old  English  custom. 
But,  as  Jesus  Christ  once  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Not  as  the 
world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you," — meaning  that  his  gifts  are 
very  different  from  those  of  the  world, — so  it  becomes  the 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ  to  say  to  you  on  this  occasion, 
"Not  as  the  world  wisheth,  wish  I  unto  you;"  meaning 
thereby,  that  the  happiness  he  wishes  for  you  is  something 
very  different  trom  what  the  world  commonly  esteems  such. 

B 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


The  world's  notion  of  happiness,  and  the  gospel  notion  of 

happiness,   are  very  different;    and   therefore   the  world's 

wishes  for  your  happiness,  and  the  preacher's  wishes  for 

your  happiness,  must   be  very  different  also.     The  world, 

when  it  wishes  a  man    happiness,  means  a  long  life,  and 

strong  health,  and  plenty  of  money,  and  a  good  name,  and 

a  thriving  family.     The  preacher,  on  the  other  hand,  when 

he  wishes  you  happiness,  as  I  wish  you  all  now,  means 

something  very  different  thereby.     What !  (you  will  perhaps 

ask,)  do  I  not  then  wish  you  life  and  riches  ?    Yes,  my  dear 

brethren,   I  wish  you,  and   pray  God   to  give  you   these 

things,  and  far  more  abundantly  than  the  world  can  wish 

them  for  you, — even  a  life  without  end,  and  an  inheritance 

more  to  be   desired   than   gold,   a  crown   eternal   in   the 

heavens.     These  are  the  wishes  of  the  preacher,  these  are 

his  prayers  in  your  behalf, — everlasting  life  and  everlasting 

glory  after  your  departure  out  of  this  world;   and,  during 

your  stay  on  earth,  a  sound  body,  a  healthy  soul,  a  name  in 

the  Book  of  Life,  and  a  household  affectionate  and  dutiful, 

lovers  of  God  and  his  will.     Such  is  the  difference  between 

the  good  wishes  of  the  world,  and  the  good  wishes  of  the 

preacher.     The  world's  good  wishes  are  like  itself,  worldly  : 

they  look  chiefly  to  the  body :  they  reach  not  beyond  earth, 

and  the  things  of  earth.     Whereas  the  good  wishes  of  the 

preacher  are  chiefly  for  your  souls  :  he  looks,  and  by  his 

office  is  bound  to  look,  first  to  the  one  thing  needful :  his 

desires  for  your  welfare  are  guided  by  the  gospel,  and  like 

that  would  raise  you  up  to  heaven.     Even  with  regard  to 

this  world,  the  preacher  knows  full  well,  that  the  greatest 

happiness  we  can  any  of  us  enjoy,  is  a  peaceful  mind,  a 

^quiet  conscience,  the  feeling  that  God  is  reconciled  to  us, 

and  loves  us,  and  cares  for  us,  and  watches  over  us,  and 

will  so  order  and  arrange  whatever  may  befall  us,  that  all 

things  sliall  work  together  for  our  good. 


THE    PREACHER  S    BLESSING.  3 

These  are  the  very  best  gifts, — they  are  the  truest  good 
which  any  man  can  have  in  this  life  :  and  they  are  all  con- 
tained in  the  text.  Therefore,  what  the  Jewish  priests  were 
commanded  to  say  to  their  people  at  seasons  of  joy  and 
blessing,  the  same  words  do  I  now  utter  as  a  New  Year's 
prayer  for  the  whole  of  my  parishioners  and  my  people. 
To  every  one  of  you,  my  friends,  I  say  in  the  words  of 
Moses  :  "  The  Lord  bless  thee,  and  keep  thee ;  the  Lord 
make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gracious  to  thee ; 
the  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee,  and  give  thee 
peace."  This  is  my  prayer  in  your  behalf.  May  each  of 
you,  young  and  old,  male  and  female,  master  and  servant, 
may  each  of  you  take  the  words  home  to  your  hearts  !  and 
may  God  Almighty  hear  them,  and  bring  them  all  to  pass, 
to  your  great  and  endless  good  ! 

But  let  us  look  at  the  text  a  little  in  detail ;  and  let  us 
keep  in  mind,  that  this  solemn  blessing  was  of  God's  own 
appointment ;  so  that  we  may  expect  to  find  mention  of  all 
those  things  which  he  knows  to  be  best  for  his  people.  The 
first  words  are,  "The  Lord  bless  thee!"  that  is,  the  Lord 
give  thee  every  good  gift,  and  pour  down  on  thee  in  due 
abundance  whatsoever  is  wholesome  and  profitable,  for  thy 
soul  first,  and  also  for  thy  body.  "  The  Lord  keep  thee  !" 
that  is,  the  Lord  watch  over  thee  for  good,  and  shield  thee 
from  every  kind  of  evil.  Here  we  have  already  prayed  for 
everything  that  is  good  for  you ;  and  have  called  on  the 
Almighty  (think  of  that  word)  to  guard  you  against  your 
enemies  of  every  kind,  and  to  defend  you  from  all  sorts  of 
dangers.  Is  not  this  enough  ?  Can  we  wish  for  anything 
more  ?  We  perhaps  might  have  thought  it  enough ;  but 
God  in  his  bounty  does  not.  At  least  he  is  pleased  to 
show  forth  the  overflowings  of  his  loving-kindness  by  heap- 
ing blessing  upon  blessing.  The  text  goes  on  thus  : — "  The 
Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gracious  to 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


thee."  You  all  know  the  difference  of  feel  between  a  sun 
shiny  and  a  cloudy  day.  The  real  heat  may  be  the  same ; 
nay,  the  cloudy  may  be  warmer  than  the  sunshiny :  for  we 
often  have  bright  sunshine  in  the  clear  frosty  days  of  winter, 
and  heavy  clouds  in  the  middle  of  summer.  But  though 
the  real  heat  may  be  the  same  on  both  days, — though  the 
thermometer,  as  it  is  called,  or  the  glass  which  measures 
heat,  may  tell  us  that  the  cloudy  day  is  the  warmer  of  the  two, 
— yet  to  our  feelings  it  may  be  quite  the  contrary.  There  is 
something  so  enlivening  in  the  sun,  that  I  have  often  known 
persons  come  in  from  a  walk  on  a  bright  winter's  day,  and 
speak  of  it  as  very  pleasant ;  while  the  same  persons,  on  a 
damp  cloudy  evening  in  July,  would  be  the  first  to  shiver, 
and  to  wish  for  a  fire.  Now  the  difference  which  it  makes 
to  a  man's  body,  whether  the  sun  is  shining  upon  him,  the 
same  difference  does  it  make  to  his  soul,  whether  God's 
face  is  shining  on  him  or  not.  Let  God's  face  shine  on  the 
soul,  it  walks  in  the  brightest  sunshine  :  let  God  veil  his 
face,  and  cloud  it  over,  the  soul  seems  chilled  and  is  dis- 
comforted. Thus  it  is  written,  "  Thou  didst  hide  thy  face, 
and  I  was  troubled."  (Psalm  xxx.  7.) 

Think  not,  my  brethren,  that  this  is  a  small  blessing.  1 
said  that  we  often  feel  the  cold  on  a  sunshiny  day  in  winter 
less  than  on  a  cloudy  day  in  summer.  Now  is  not  some- 
thing answering  to  this  often  met  with  in  the  world  ?  Do 
we  not  see  many  a  man  disquieted  and  ill  at  ease  in  the 
midst  of  riches  and  luxuries ;  while  his  poor  neighbour,  who 
lives  in  some  sorry  hovel,  may  look  always  cheerful  and 
contented  ?  What  is  this  difference  owing  to  ?  Not  to  the 
health  and  strength  of  the  poor  man :  for  he  may  be  old, 
and  often  a  sufferer  from  cold  and  wet;  and  he  cannot 
afford  to  buy  himself  the  little  comforts  suited  to  his  years 
and  infirmities.  The  rich  man,  on  the  other  hand,  may 
still  be  young :  his  disease,  if  it  can  be  called  one,  is  more 


THE    preacher's    BLESSING. 


of  the  mind  than  of  the  body :  he  can  consult  the  best 
physicians :  he  can  travel  from  place  to  place  in  search  of 
pleasure  :  he  is  not  forced  to  deny  himself  any  one  earthly 
thing  that  may  tend  to  his  ease  and  enjoyment.  Yet  with 
all  this,  in  spite  of  his  youth  and  riches,  in  spite  of  his 
having  no  outward  ailment,  and  possessing  every  comfort 
and  luxury  that  heart  could  wish  for,  he  may  be  always 
growling  and  grumbling ;  while  the  dweller  in  the  old  hovel, 
with  the  pinching  frost  of  poverty  and  age,  and  sometimes 
sickness  to  boot,  sharp  upon  him,  may  be  ever  making  the 
best  of  his  condition,  and  finding  out  something  in  it  to 
thank  God  for.  This  is  no  mere  dream  of  what  might  be. 
Those  who  see  much  of  the  rich  and  of  the  poor,  may  find 
instances  of  discontented  rich  men,  and  contented  poor 
men,  in  every  part  of  the  land.  What  then  is  this  difference 
owing  to  ?  To  what  cause  must  we  trace  the  gloomy  spirit 
of  the  one,  who  has  every  worldly  good  to  satisfy  him,  and 
the  bhthe-hearted  contentedness  of  the  other,  whose  lot  in 
the  world's  eye  is  so  hard  and  wretched  ?  The  cause  is 
simply  this,  that  the  poor  man  I  have  been  speaking  of, — 
for  what  I  have  said  is  true  only  of  such, — has  led  a  Chris- 
tian life,  or  at  least  has  turned  to  God  in  earnest,  and 
repented  of  his  sins  betimes ;  and  so  God  has  allowed  his 
face  to  shine  upon  him  and  to  cheer  him  :  while  his  rich 
neighbour  has  been  led  astray  by  the  deceitfulness  of  riches, 
and  has  been  so  taken  up  with  his  pleasures,  or  with  the 
cares  which  riches  bring  with  them,  that  he  could  not  spare 
time  to  think  about  God.  He  has  turned  his  face  away 
from  God  :  therefore  God  has  turned  away  his  face  from 
him,  and  left  him  in  clouds  and  heaviness.  O  my  brethren  ! 
that  you  might  but  know  and  feel  the  joy  and  gladness 
which  the  light  of  God's  face  can  shed  on  the  soul  of  the 
Christian  !  Wherever  it  shines,  it  cheers  and  warms,  and 
even   gilds   and   beautifies    the   lowest   and   meanest  lot 


THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


Where  it  is  wanting,  earthly  wealth  and  grandeur  can  no 
more  make  amends  for  it,  than  the  blaze  of  lamps  and  the 
glare  of  torches  could  have  made  amends  for  the  absence 
of  the  sun  during  those  three  days  of  Egyptian  darkness, 
when  the  people,  who  had  disobeyed  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
were  plagued  with  that  thick  darkness  which,  Moses  tells 
us,  "  could  be  felt." 

The  next  blessing  we  come  to  is,  "  The  Lord  be  gracious 
to  thee  !"  that  is,  the  Lord  receive  thy  prayers,  and  hearken 
to  them,  as  a  kind  and  merciful  king  hearkens  to  the 
petitions  of  his  subjects.  That  this  is  one  of  the  things 
meant  by  "  being  gracious,"  we  know  from  a  passage  in  the 
Book  of  Exodus  (xxii.  27),  where  God  says  of  himself, 
"  When  the  poor  man  crieth  to  me,  I  will  hear ;  for  I  am 
gracious."  Here  the  graciousness  of  God  is  declared  to 
consist  in  his  hearing  prayer.  But  God  is  also  called 
gracious  in  Scripture,  because  he  forgives  sin.  Thus,  in  the 
Book  of  Nehemiah  (ix.  17),  we  find  him  called  "a  God 
ready  to  pardon,  gracious  and  merciful."  In  the  Book  of 
Jonah  (iv.  2),  the  prophet  says,  "  I  knew  that  thou  art  a 
gracious  God  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of  great 
kindness,  and  repentest  thee  of  the  evil."  Again  in  the 
77th  Psalm,  where  David  for  a  time  is  almost  tempted  to 
despair  of  God's  forgiveness,  after  saying,  "  Will  the  Lord 
absent  himself  for  ever  ?  and  will  he  be  no  more  entreated  ? 
Is  his  mercy  clean  gone  for  ever?"  he  adds,  "hath  God 
forgotten  to  be  gracious?"  To  pray  then  that  God  will  be 
gracious  to  his  people,  is  to  pray  that  he  will  listen  to 
your  supplications,  and  grant  your  requests  ;  that  he  will  be 
slow  to  mark  what  you  have  done  amiss,  and  ready  to  take 
you  into  favour,  when  you  forsake  your  sins,  and  cry  to  him 
for  pardon. 

The  next  blessing  wished  for  you  in  the  text  is,  "  The 
Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  you  1 "  that  is,  the  Lord 


THE    PREACHERS    BLESSING. 


shew  forth  his  favour  and  love  toward  you.  We  may  sup- 
pose this  expression  taken  from  a  king  sitting  on  the  throne, 
and  looking  with  eyes  of  such  goodwill  on  the  petitioners 
who  come  before  him,  that  the  bystanders  perceive,  and 
the  petitioners  themselves  feel,  that  he  is  their  friend :  they 
feel  that  they  have  the  happiness  of  being  esteemed  and 
loved  by  him,  and  that  they  can  reckon  with  certainty  on 
his  protection.  To  be  countenanced  thus  by  the  King  of 
kings,  to  feel  that  he  lets  us  freely  into  his  presence,  to  know 
that  we  have  found  favour  in  his  sight,  and  that  he  has  held 
out  his  golden  sceptre  to  us,  as  King  Ahasuerus  held  his 
sceptre  out  to  Esther,  when  she  presented  herself  before 
him, — this  assuredly  is  the  highest  privilege  a  son  of  Adam 
can  enjoy.  It  is  true,  God  does  not  really  sit,  like  an 
eastern  king,  on  a  visible  throne  :  for  he  dwells  in  glory 
unapproachable,  and  in  light  which  no  eye  can  pierce. 
Nor  does  he  really  lift  up  his  head,  or  hold  out  a  golden 
sceptre.  But  a  child  may  understand,  that,  when  such 
things  are  said  of  God,  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  what 
is  declared  concerning  him  to  the  level  of  our  poor  weak 
minds.  Were  heavenly  things  spoken  of  after  a  heavenly 
manner,  how  could  we  creeping  earth-worms  lift  up  our 
thoughts  to  conceive  them  ?  Therefore  it  has  pleased  God 
in  Holy  Writ  to  speak  of  himself  in  words  and  images  bor- 
rowed from  earthly  things,  so  that  we  may  form  some 
notions,  however  dim,  and  gain  some  knowledge,  however 
scanty,  of  his  infinite  power  and  goodness.  Thus  in  some 
places  of  Scripture  God  is  called  a  king,  in  others  a  father. 
Not  that  he  is  like  an  earthly  king,  or  an  earthly  father. 
But  we  all  know  what  a  king  is,  and  what  a  father  is  :  there- 
fore, in  compassion  to  our  ignorance,  God  suffers  himself  to 
be  thus  spoken  of,  that  we  may  in  some  measure  understand 
what  duty  and  obedience  and  love  we  owe  to  him,  and  what 
protection  and  blessings  and  mercy  we  may  hope  for  from 


8  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

him.  So  again  we  read  in  Scripture  of  God's  hands,  and 
God's  eyes.  Not  that  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  has  hands  and 
eyes,  as  we  have  :  but  this  is  said,  to  warn  us  that  he  sees 
and  knows  our  most  secret  actions,  just  as  if  he  had  eyes  to 
see  them  with,  and  that  he  can  punish  us  for  our  sins,  and 
smite  us  down,  just  as  if  he  had  a  strong  right  hand.  You 
fliust  not  be  surprised  therefore  by  the  expressions,  "The 
Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,"  and  "  Hft  up  his  coun- 
tenance upon  thee."  For  these  things  too  are  said  in  com- 
passion to  our  weakness,  to  teach  us  that  God's  favour  is  as 
cheering  to  the  soul  as  sunshine  to  the  body ;  and  that  they 
who  are  reconciled  to  him,  and  are  living  in  his  love,  have 
the  same  quiet  trust  that  no  harm  can  happen  to  them,  as 
you  and  I  should  have,  if  we  knew  ourselves  to  be  coun- 
tenanced and  befriended  by  the  king.  If  we  had  the  king's 
countenance,  if  he  had  looked  favourably  upon  us,  and 
assured  us  of  his  friendship,  we  should  expect  to  receive 
some  honour  or  preferment;  or  at  least  we  should  feel 
certain  that,  so  far  as  he  could  hinder,  he  would  not  suffer 
any  one  to  hurt  us.  So  is  it  with  those  who  have  God's 
countenance,  but  in  a  far,  far  higher  degree.  For  the  king, 
great  as  he  is,  is  only  a  man.  His  power  is  cut  short  in  a 
thousand  ways,  and  at  the  best  can  only  follow  us  to  the 
grave.  When  dust  to  dust  is  thrown  upon  our  coffins,  we 
are  beyond  the  sway  of  every  earthly  prince.  But  God  is 
the  King  of  kings  :  his  power  has  no  bounds,  except  his 
own  wisdom  and  goodness  and  will :  whatever  he  pleases  to 
do,  he  can  do  :  above  all,  in  the  grave,  where  human  rule  is 
at  an  end,  his  rule  and  sovereignty  are  doubled.  Here  he 
leaves  us  in  great  measure  to  our  own  devices  :  he  governs 
us  by  human  means  :  he  rules  us  by  viceroys  and  stewards. 
But  the  moment  the  soul  leaves  the  body,  it  passes  into  his 
immediate  kingdom :  it  goes  to  a  place  where  the  govern- 
ment is  given  in  charge,  not  to  any  earthly  prince,  but  to 


THE    PREACHERS    BLESSING. 


the  only-begotten  Son ;  who  there  reigns  and  judges  in 
person  with  a  boundless  power  to  punish  and  to  reward.  My 
brethren,  the  friendship  and  protection  of  the  King  of  kings 
is  surely  well  worth  having.  May  he  vouchsafe,  as  the 
Psalmist  expresses  it,  to  "  give  us  everlasting  felicity,  and  to 
make  us  glad  with  the  joy  of  his  countenance  !"  (Psalm 
xxi.  6.) 

Since  God  however  does  not  really  sit  like  a  king  upon  a 
throne,  nor  show  himself  to  man  face  to  face,  how  are  we  to 
know  whether  his  countenance  has  been  hfted  upon  us  ? 
The  last  blessing  mentioned  in  the   text  will   furnish   an 
answer  to  this  question:   "The  Lord  give  thee  peace!" 
For  peace  is  the  fruit  of  God's  favour.     He  who  is  at  peace, 
and  feels  himself  at  peace  with  God,  he  who  knows  himself 
to  be  reconciled  to  his  heavenly  Father  through  the  sufferings 
and  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  who  knows  that  he  has  been 
admitted  and  adopted  into  Christ's  family,  and  feels  that 
obedient  reverence  and  love  toward  God,  which  every  true 
son  must  feel  for  the  best  of  fathers, — such  a  person  may  be 
quite  sure  that  God  has  indeed  lifted  up  his  countenance 
upon  him.     "  The  effect  of  righteousness,"  in  both  senses 
of  the  word, — the  effect  of  justification  by  faith   in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  and  of  our  thereupon  living  a  good  and 
christian  life,  both  of  which  things  in  Scripture  are  often 
termed   righteousness, — the    effect   of    this    righteousness, 
the   prophet    Isaiah   says,    "is    peace."      If   we   know  we 
are  forgiven  for  Christ's  sake,  we  are  at  peace;   because 
we  know  that  nothing  can  hurt  us.     If,  out  of  gratitude 
and   love   to   our   Master   and   Saviour,  we   are   hving  in 
obedience  to  his  holy  laws,  then  too  we  have  every  ground 
and  reason  to  be  at  peace  :  for,  "  If  we  are  followers  of  that 
which  is  good,  who  is  he  that  will  harm  us?"     (i   Peter 
iii.  1 3-) 

Here  I  should  conclude,  but  for  one  caution  most  needful 


lO  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

to  be  given.  Some  may  think,  that,  because  they  are  at 
peace,  because  their  conscience  does  not  prick  or  pain  them, 
therefore  all  must  be  well  with  them.  My  brethren,  it  is 
not  every  sort  of  peace  that  is  to  be  desired,  but  only  that 
true  peace  which  is  the  effect  of  righteousness.  There  is  a 
false  peace,  a  peace  arising  out  of  recklessness  and  careless- 
ness and  the  never  thinking  about  God.  Let  me  warn  you 
against  this  false  peace.  Would  you  say  that  a  man  was  at 
peace,  who  was  dropping  into  a  deadly  slumber?  Would 
you  say  that  Samson  was  at  peace,  when  he  lay  sleeping  in 
the  lap  of  Delilah  ?  Such,  so  dangerous,  so  deadly  is, — the 
peace  shall  I  call  it  ?  or  rather,  the  false  security  of  the  self- 
righteous  and  the  careless. 

Rouse  yourselves,  I  beseech  you,  from  such  fatal  slumbers, 
if  any  of  you  have  hitherto  been  sinking  beneath  them. 
Awake !  the  flames  of  the  fiery  lake  are  flashing  in  your 
eyes ;  and  you  see  them  not,  but  are  sliding  sleep-bound 
toward  them.  Awake  !  behold,  the  face  of  the  Lord  does 
not  shine,  but  frown  upon  you.  Any  fear,  any  woe,  any 
sting  of  conscience,  will  be  a  blessing  to  you,  which  can  save 
you  from  the  wrath  of  a  disregarded  and  offended  God.  As 
the  old  year  has  fallen  into  its  grave,  and  the  new  year  has 
just  opened  its  eyes  to  the  light  of  this  morning's  sun, 
so  let  the  days  of  your  ungodliness  have  come  to  an 
end,  and  let  this  be  the  first  day  of  a  new  year  of  godly 
fear  and  hope.  This  is  my  prayer  for  you :  this  is  my 
new  year's  blessing.  I  cannot  wish  you  peace  yet.  Your 
false  dead  peace  must  be  broken  up — the  crust  of  ice 
which  covers  your  hearts  must  be  broken  up,  before  the 
waters  can  flow  gently  and  calmly,  brightened  by  the  sun- 
shine of  heaven. 

My  brethren,  you  can  now  understand  a  little  better,  how 
precious  was  the  blessing  which  the  priest  of  God  among 
the  Jews  called  down  upon  the  people  of  God.    Let  me 


THE    PREACHERS    BLESSING.  II 

repeat  the  words  again,  as  I  do  from  my  heart :  my 
brethren,  the  Lord  bless  you  this  year,  and  keep  you  [ 
the  Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  you,  and  be  gracious 
to  you  !  the  Lord  Hft  up  his  countenance  upon  you,  and 
give  you  peace,  now  and  evermore  1 


II. 

GRACE,  PEACE,  AND  KNOWLEDGE, 

2  Peter  i.  2. 

Grace  and  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you  through  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  and  of  Jesus  our  Lord. 

/^F  the  twenty-one  epistles  handed  down  to  us  in  the 
^^  New  Testament,  nineteen, — all  but  two, — open  with 
a  prayer  for  the  spiritual  well-being  of  the  persons  to  whom 
they  are  addressed.  Before  the  apostles  enter  on  their  task 
of  exhortation  and  instruction,  they  begin  by  wiihing  their 
brethren  in  Christ  the  choicest  spiritual  blessings  ;  and  in 
sixteen  of  the  epistles  these  blessings  are  grace  and  peace. 
Grace  and  peace  then  must  be  something  very  precious, 
seeing  that  they  were  the  thoughts  thus  uppermost  in  the 
minds  of  the  apostles,  the  very  tirst  thoughts  to  strike  them 
when  they  sat  down  to  write,  and  among  the  first  words  to 
drop  from  their  pen.  And  precious,  most  precious  bless- 
ings indeed  they  aie,  my  brethren.  For  what  do  they 
amount  to  ?  what  is  the  meaning  of  these  two  holy,  apos- 
tohcal  words  ?  To  begin  with  the  first :  grace  means  favour. 
To  shew  grace  is  to  shew  favour.  To  be  in  a  person's  good 
graces  is  to  be  in  favour  with  him.  An  act  of  grace  is  an 
act  of  favour,  of  that  favour  which  springs  from  mercy  and 
love,  and  which  gives  or  forgives  a  man  more   than  in 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND   KNOWLEDGE.  1 3 

justice  he  has  any  right  to  look  for.  Thus  we  read  that 
"  Joseph  found  grace  (that  is,  found  favour)  in  the  sight  of 
Potiphar."  But  in  the  New  Testament  grace  is  hardly  ever 
used  except  in  speaking  of  God,  and  things  of  God  :  and  it 
either  means  the  favour  and  mercy  and  love  of  God,  or 
some  gift  bestowed  on  man  by  that  favour  and  mercy  and 
love  :  above  all,  that  greatest  and  most  precious  of  all  gifts, 
the  gift  of  his  only-begotten  Son,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins 
purchased  for  us  by  his  blood,  and  the  promise  of  eternal  life, 
if  we  will  turn  to  him,  and  believe  in  him,  and  obey  him. 
This  too  is  more  especially  called  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  with  a  petition  for  which,  you  know,  the 
minister  winds  up  the  service.  In  the  text  we  may  perhaps 
give  the  word  a  somewhat  wider  sense,  and  take  it  to  stand 
generally  for  God's  love  and  favour  towards  all  the  true 
followers  of  Christ. 

Moreover,  as  grace  in  the  text  is  the  grace  and  favour 
of  God,  so  peace  in  the  text  is  that  inward  spiritual  peace, 
which  springs  out  of  God's  grace  and  favour,  and  which  is 
the  greatest  of  all  the  blessings  it  is  possible  for  man  to 
enjoy.  Not  that  peace  of  other  kinds  is  to  be  slighted. 
Peace  from  foreign  enemies,  peace  from  strife  and  broils  in 
our  own  land,  peace  and  harmony  among  neighbours,  peace 
and  love  in  a  family, — all  these  things  are  blessings  to  be 
thankful  for,  when  we  have  them,  and  to  be  prayed  for, 
when  we  have  them  not.  Again,  peace  in  the  Church 
would  be  another  great  blessing  :  and  this  too  is  to  be 
prayed  for,  that  it  may  please  God  to  heal  those  divisions 
and  quarrels  among  Christians,  sect  against  sect,  and  party 
against  party,  which  give  rise  to  so  much  scandal,  and  are 
such  a  handle  to  the  profane.  "  We  see  (say  they)  that 
even  those  who  take  the  most  thought  about  religion, 
cannot  be  of  one  mind  in  it :  why  then  should  we  set  foot 
in  a  road  where  there  is  so  much  jangling  and  jostHng?' 


14  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Thus  talk,  and  thus  think,  the  profane.  And  doubtless, 
could  peace  and  unity  be  restored  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
were  the  day  to  come  when  "  Ephraim  shall  no  more  envy 
Judah,  and  Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephraim"  (Isaiah  xi.  13), 
could  the  world  see  the  great  and  glorious  sight  of  Chris- 
tians holding  the  same  faith,  agreeing  in  the  same  doctrines, 
joining  in  the  same  worship,  and  walking  along  the  same 
path  in  peace  and  love,  as  brethren  and  partners  in  one 
hope  ought  to  do, — doubtless  such  a  living  proof  of  the 
peacefulness  and  excellency  of  Christ's  kingdom  would 
bring  in  many  to  the  truth,  who  at  present  have  deserted  its 
banner,  and  enlisted  on  the  side  of  its  enemies.  But, 
though  peace  in  the  Church,  and  all  other  outward  peace, 
is  a  great  blessing,  and  though  the  peace  which  St.  Peter 
desires  to  see  multiplied  amongst  us,  would  turn  the  whole 
earth  into  a  garden  for  every  kind  of  peace  to  flourish  in, 
still  it  is  clear  that  the  peace  he  has  mainly  in  view  is  the 
spiritual  peace  which  arises  out  of  the  favour  of  God.  For 
so  grace  and  peace  stand  naturally  together;  and  peace 
follows  grace,  and  flows  from  it,  and  grows  out  of  it,  as  a 
stream  flows  from  a  spring,  and  as  a  blossom  grows  from  a 
tree  ; — both  to  come  to  us  "  through  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  of  Jesus  our  Lord." 

Peace,  I  say,  inward  peace,  peace  of  mind,  peace  of 
conscience,  flows  and  grows  out  of  God's  grace :  and  this 
is  the  only  source,  the  only  root,  from  which  it  can  spring. 
For  think  a  little  :  how  should  we  stand  toward  God, 
supposing  Christ  had  never  come  into  the  world  ?  or  sup- 
posing that,  now  he  is  come,  he  had  not  reconciled  us  to 
the  Father  ?  God  is  almighty,  and  can  deal  with  us 
according  to  his  will :  he  has  given  us  just  and  holy  laws  : 
and  those  laws  we  have  broken  again  and  again  in  every 
possible  way.  There  is  no  man  living  so  good  as  he 
ought  to  be  :  there  is  no  man  living  so  good  as  he  might 


GRACE,  PEACE,  AND  KNOWLEDGE.  1 5 

well  have  been,  considering  his  opportunities  and  advan- 
tages :  there  is  no  man  Hving  who  has  not  done  wrong, 
wrong  in  the  face  and  against  the  law  of  God,  when  he 
might,  had  he  pleased,  have  done  right ;  no  man  who  has 
not  done  what  at  the  time  he  well  knew  to  be  wrong,  and 
who  has  not  failed  in  doing  what  he  knew  he  ought  to  have 
done.  How  then  can  any  man,  whose  heart  has  ever 
warned  him,  or  who  has  ever  been  warned  of  these  things, 
— how  can  such  a  man  be  at  peace?  When  Jehu  was 
asked  by  the  king  of  Israel,  "  Is  it  peace,  Jehu  ? "  he 
answered,  *'  What  peace,  so  long  as  the  idolatries  of  thy 
mother  Jezebel  and  her  witchcrafts  are  so  many  ? " 
(2  Kings  ix.  22.)  In  like  manner  when  a  person,  who 
has  been  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  duty  and  of  his  sins, 
says  to  his  conscience,  "  Is  it  peace,  Conscience  ? "  his 
conscience  makes  answer,  *'  What  peace,  thou  sinner !  when 
the  witchcrafts  of  that  Jezebel  within  thee,  that  carnal  heart 
of  thine,  and  its  abominations  and  idolatries  are  so  many ; 
when  thou  hast  preferred  the  world  and  the  things  of  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  things  of  the  flesh, — nay,  when 
thou  hast  even  preferred  those  hell-sprung  passions,  envy, 
and  hatred,  and  malice,  and  revenge,  to  the  law  of  God  ; 
when  thou  hast  made  an  idol  of  thyself,  and  set  up  thine 
own  will  to  be  the  rule  and  principle  of  thy  thoughts  and 
actions, — having  lived  thus,  O  sinner  !  what  room  can  there 
be  for  peace?"  Such  must  be,  such  has  ever  been,  the 
answer  of  the  conscience,  when  men  come  to  it  in  search  of 
that  inward  peace,  which  always  shrinks  and  flees  from 
every  kind  of  guilt,  whether  great  or  small. 

But  if  a  man's  conscience  will  not  allow  him  to  have 
peace,  whither  shall  he  betake  himself  to  find  it?  Shall  he 
go  to  his  natural  reason,  to  that  reason  by  which  the  affairs 
of  mankind  in  this  world  are  ordered  and  controlled  ? 
That  will  tell  him,  that,  according  to  the  laws  of  man, 


1 6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

every  offence  has  its  set  punishment.     It  is  no  excuse  for 
a  person  who  has  broken  any  one  law,  that  he  has  kept  fifty 
others.     When  a  man  is  tried  for  a  robbery,  it  is  of  no  avail 
for  him  to  plead  that  he  has  never  murdered  anybody ;  nor, 
if  he  is  tried  for  stealing,  that  he  is  not  a  highway-robber ; 
nor,  if  he  is  tried  for  a  riot,  that  he  is  not  a  thief ;  nor,  if  he 
is  tried  for  poaching,  that  he  is  not  a  rioter.     A  man  is 
bound  to  keep  all  the  laws.     If  he  breaks  any  one  of  them, 
and  is  found  out,  he  may  be  brought  to  punishment :  nay, 
he  is  sure  of  meeting  with  it,  unless  from  something  out  of 
the  common  way,  such  as  his  youth,  or  the  pettiness  of  the 
injury,  or  its  being  a  first  offence,  he  is  lucky  enough  to  get 
a  pardon.     But  can  any  one  say,  he  never  offended  God, 
except  when  he  was  very  young  and  knew  no  better  ?    Can 
any  one  say,  he  has  offended  God  only  once,  and  in  some 
small  matter?     If  there  be  such  a  person,  natural  reason 
might  perhaps  encourage  him  to  look  for  pardon  at  God's 
hands.     But  we  all  know,  there  is  no  such  person  in  the 
world,  nor  ever  was.     We  all  know,  if  we  know  anything 
about  the  matter,  that  in  many  ways,  and  at  every  season  of 
life,  in  childhood,  in  boyhood,  in  youth,  in  manhood,  in  old 
age,  all  have  offended,  and  all  are  still  offending  God ;  some 
of  us  more  indeed,  and  some  less,  but  all  frequently  and  all 
grievously  and  inexcusably.     We  know  that  every  man  has 
broken  God's  law,  knowingly  and  wilfully,  over  and  over 
again.   That  law  too  is  a  perfect  law  :  and  the  lawgiver  is  one 
whom  there  is  no  deceiving  or  escaping.     What  peace  then 
can  reason  bestow  ?   Its  sentence  must  be.  Thou  hast  broken 
the  law ;  therefore  thou  must  abide  the  penalty  of  the  law. 

But  perhaps  some  one,  after  being  thus  baffled  by  his 
conscience  and  his  reason,  may  think  of  turning  to  the  Old 
Testament,  to  see  whether  he  can  find  comfort  there.  Well ! 
what  does  he  read  ?  He  reads,  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that 
confirmeth   not   all   the  words  of  this   law  to  do  them." 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND   KNOWLEDGE. 


(Deut.  xxvii.  26.)  So  that  we  must  do  them  all:  else  we 
are  accursed.  If  we  do  not  keep  them  all,  if  we  sin  against 
them,  then  we  read  this  plain  sentence,  "  The  soul  that 
sinneth,  it  shall  die."  (Ezek.  xviii.  20.) 

Here  then  we  have  the  sinner,  when  he  becomes  aware  of 
his  guilt, — and  when  I  say  the  sinner,  I  mean  you,  I  mean 
all,  for  all  are  sinners, — going  for  hope,  for  comfort,  for 
peace,  to  conscience  and  reason :  but  he  gets  no  hope, 
or  comfort,  or  peace  from  them.  Conscience  tells  him,  "  I 
have  no  peace  to  give  thee,  because  I  know  thee  to  be  a 
sinner."  Reason  tells  him,  "  I  have  no  peace  to  give  thee, 
because  thou  hast  broken  the  law;  and  he  who  breaketh 
the  law,  shall  be  broken  by  the  law."  And  if,  in  the  hope 
of  getting  a  milder  answer,  he  takes  up  the  Old  Testament, 
he  there  finds  many  offers  of  pardon,  it  is  true,  and  many 
promises  of  mercy ;  but  he  also  finds  the  most  terrible 
threats  against  every  kind  of  iniquity :  he  finds  story  after 
story  of  God's  fearful  judgments  against  sinners :  above  all, 
he  finds  a  covenant  of  works  too  perfect  for  man  to  keep : 
and  he  reads  those  words  so  appalling  to  a  sinner,  who  is 
seeking  after  peace — "  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to 
the  wicked."  How  then  is  he  to  find  peace  ?  He  cannot 
find  it  for  himself:  nothing  on  earth  can  give  it  him;  he 
must  receive  it  therefore  from  above ;  it  must  come  to  him 
as  a  free  gift  from  God.  That  is,  it  must  come  to  him  by 
grace.  If  God  is  graciously  pleased  to  ofi"er  us  his  free 
pardon,  and  to  take  us  back  into  his  favour,  then,  and  then 
alone,  can  we  have  peace. 

Now  this  way  to  peace  has  been  opened  to  us  by  God's 
free  mercy  and  grace.  When  we  were  yet  afar  off,  nay, 
before  we  had  ever  thought  of  turning  to  him,  while  we 
were  loitering  in  the  fields,  among  the  swine,  feeding  on  the 
husks  of  sin  and  folly,  God  himself,  in  the  person  of  his 
only  Son,  came  to  us,  to  look  for  us,  and  to  fetch  us  home 

c 


THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


again,  and  brought  us  the  angel  food  of  truth  and  holiness, 
that,  having  tasted  thereof,  we  might  loathe  the  wretched 
fare  we  had  till  then  been  feeding  on.  By  this  shewing 
forth  of  God's  great  love  for  us,  by  this  proof  that  he  wishes 
us  to  be  reconciled  to  him,  by  this  precious  pledge  that  he 
longs  to  pardon  us,  if  we  will  only  let  him,  the  sinner  is 
enabled  to  find  peace.  The  moment  we  are  sure  of  being 
forgiven,  our  spirits  may  throw  aside  their  griefs,  and  fly 
back  to  God,  and  find  rest  in  a  humble  trust  in  his  mercy; 
seeing  that  we  may  now  have  a  good  and  certain  hope,  that 
God  will  not  leave  his  work  imperfect;  that  he,  who  has 
begun  our  salvation,  will  carry  it  on  to  the  end ;  that  he, 
who  has  given  us  his  only  Son  to  die  for  us,  will  with  him 
freely  give  us  all  things,  which  make  for  the  good  of  our 
souls.  Thus,  as  an  excellent  old  writer  says,  "  the  flower  of 
peace  grows  upon  the  root  of  grace."  "" 

"  This  persuasion,"  he  continues,  "  has  such  a  gentle 
power  with  it,  that  it  can  make  our  minds  clear  and  bright, 
like  the  finest  day  in  summer.  '  My  peace  I  give  to  you,* 
says  Christ,  '  let  not  your  hearts  be  troubled.'  All  the 
peace  and  favour  of  the  world  cannot  calm  a  troubled  heart ; 
but  where  this  peace  is,  which  Christ  gives,  all  the  trouble 
and  disquiet  of  this  world  cannot  disturb  it."  t  Have  any 
of  you  happened  to  see  the  effect  of  a  breeze  on  a  pool  of 
deep  water  in  a  sheltered  valley  ?  The  wind  may  be  sharp 
enough  to  ruffle  the  face  of  the  water  for  a  while ;  but  its 
depths  are  at  peace.  So  is  it  vnih  the  Christian.  The 
cares  and  worries  of  life  cannot  pierce  below  the  surface  of 
his  spirit :  for  he  is  lying  beneath  the  shelter  of  his  Saviour ; 
and  so  the  depths  of  his  heart  are  safe  from  every  common 
trouble  and  annoyance.  Nothing  earthly  can  shake  his 
soul,  unless  it  be  one  of  those  heavy  storms  and  whirlwinds 

♦  Leighton,  vol.  i.  p.  28.  f  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  1 9 

of  affliction,  with  which  it  sometimes  pleases  God  to  try  the 
patience  of  his  servants.  But  God  never  tasks  his  children 
beyond  their  power ;  so  that  when  he  tries  them  with  some 
heart-searching  grief,  he  at  the  same  time  sends  them 
strength  to  bear  it.  Apart  however  from  these  heavy  heart- 
searching  woes,  which  befall  us,  God  be  praised,  very  rarely, 
the  Christian  enjoys  great  peace.  To  a  mind  like  his,  a 
mind  at  ease  in  itself,  and  feeding  on  the  promises  of  its 
God  and  Saviour,  what  matter  those  outward  grievances 
and  distresses,  which  harass  and  trouble  the  children  of  this 
world  ?  Truly  they  are  little  more  to  him,  than  the  rattling 
of  the  hail  on  the  tiles  to  a  man  sitting  by  a  good  fire  with 
a  plentiful  meal  before  him.*  If  the  man  takes  notice  of  the 
storm  out  of  doors,  it  is  only  to  say  how  glad  he  is  to  be  out 
of  it.  So,  if  the  Christian  notices  those  cares  and  crosses, 
which  his  worldly  neighbours  make  so  much  of,  it  is  only  to 
thank  God  for  having  called  him  to  a  covert  from  the  gales 
of  life,  and  placed  him  in  a  safe  and  sheltered  haven. 

What  then  makes  so  many  people  take  up  such  a  dislike 
to  religion,  as  if  it  were  a  sour  and  unpleasant  thing  ?  It  is 
because  they  see  the  temperance  and  the  self-denial  of  the 
true  Christian :  they  see  that  he  shrinks  from  every  kind  of 
revelry  and  excess  :  they  see  that  his  very  mirth  has  some- 
thing quiet  and  sober  in  it :  and  seeing  all  this,  they  say 
,vithin  themselves,  "  What  a  poor  dull  wretched  fellow  this 
must  be !  I  would  not  be  hke  him  for  the  world."  This  is 
strange  language,  is  it  not,  for  anybody  to  hold  about  a 
Christian  ?  For  every  thinking  man  must  know  that  a  true 
Christian  is  the  child  and  heir  of  God.  A  true  Christian  is 
approved  by  the  Father ;  a  true  Christian  is  loved  by  the 
Son;  a  true  Christian  has  been  sanctified  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  hereafter  he  will  be  the  companion  of  angels ;  and 

*  Leighton,  vol.  i.  p.  30. 


20  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

even  now  his  heart  is  more  than  half  in  heaven.  For  a 
sinner  to  speak  scornfully  of  such  a  person,  for  a  sinner  to 
say  of  God's  servant  and  child,  "  I  would  not  be  like  him 
for  the  world," — is  surely  very  strange  and  foolish  talk.  Yet 
how  often  do  we  hear  such  talk  !  How  often  do  we  see  the 
sinner,  perched  on  the  dunghill  of  his  vices,  clapping  his 
wings  in  self-applause,  and  fancying  himself  a  much  grander 
creature  than  the  poor  Christian,  who  all  the  while  is  soaring 
on  high  like  a  lark,  and  mounting  on  his  way  to  heaven ! 
Foolish,  however,  and  worse  than  foolish  as  it  is,  for  sinners 
to  despise  a  Christian,  it  is  not  altogether  to  be  w^ondered 
at  that  they  should  sometimes  think  his  lot  dull  and 
wretched.  For  they  can  only  judge  by  the  outside;  they 
cannot  look  within :  they  cannot  see  the  inward  joy,  the 
gladness  of  heart,  which  the  true  Christian  is  seldom  without, 
even  when  in  a  very  hard  and  low  estate.  The  sinner  can- 
not see  this  :  nor,  if  he  could,  would  he  be  able  to  fathom  it, 
or  make  it  out ;  for  it  is  a  peace  which  passeth  this  world's 
understanding.  Yet  it  is  not  a  whit  the  less  real,  or  less 
delightful ;  nor  does  it  less  fill  the  heart. 

If  any  of  you  then  have  a  longing  for  peace,  and  put 
belief  in  what  the  Bible  tells  you,  be  persuaded  to  look  for 
peace  in  the  quarter  to  which  I  have  been  pointing  you. 
Make  the  attempt :  it  can  do  you  no  harm.  Give  religion 
a  fair  trial.  Seek  for  peace  in  the  way  of  grace,  in  the  way 
of  reconciliation  with  the  Father,  in  the  way  of  God's  love 
and  favour,  in  the  way,  the  spiritual  way,  of  piety,  and  meek- 
ness, and  obedience.  This  is  the  true  and  straight  road  to 
peace  and  happiness ;  and  beside  it  there  is  no  other. 
Every  other  road  will  end  in  disappointment.  This  will 
lead  you  to  the  only  happiness  which  can  give  a  man  peace 
at  the  last. 

But  perhaps  you  may  ask  me  how  I  know  there  is  no 
otlier  road  to  happiness,  besides  this  way  of  peace.     I  know 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND    KNOWLEDGE. 


it  for  two  reasons  :  first  from  the  nature  of  the  thing ;  be- 
cause nothing  short  of  God  can  satisfy  an  immortal  soul ; 
and  so  long  as  the  soul  is  unsatisfied,  a  man  cannot  be  mort- 
than  half  happy.  Moreover,  the  wisest  man  that  ever  lived 
Solomon,  has  told  us  so.  He  made  the  trial.  He  sought 
for  happiness  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  has  left  us  his  recorc. 
that  he  found  them  all  to  be  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit. 
Now,  if  he,  with  every  luxury,  every  enjoyment,  every  indul- 
gence, which  gold  could  buy, — if  Solomon,  with  all  hif 
power,  all  his  wisdom,  all  his  glory,  all  his  splendour,  all  his 
riches, — if  he  found  life,  when  away  from  God,  such  a  poor, 
vexatious,  empty  thing,  what  shall  we  find  it — we,  whose 
utmost  worldly  pleasures  can  no  more  be  compared  to  his, 
than  a  cup  of  muddy  ditch-water  can  be  compared  to  the 
richest  wine  ?  If  you  wish  for  happiness  then,  look  for  it  in 
the  only  road  that  has  ever  led  to  it.  Seek  for  God's  grace.. 
for  God's  forgiveness,  for  God's  favour ;  pray  for  them ;  let 
them  into  your  souls ;  and  when  they  have  come,  and  taken 
up  their  abode  with  you,  peace  will  not  long  be  a  stranger. 
It  will  come  to  you,  and  make  you  happy. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  peace  which  the  apostle  desires 
for  you  in  the  text.  It  is  a  spiritual  peace,  arising  from  a 
sense  of  God's  great  favour  and  mercy.  It  is  an  inward 
peace,  shedding  balm  over  the  soul,  and  preserving  it  from 
being  galled  and  fretted  by  the  petty  rubs  of  life.  But  we 
shall  form  a  faint  notion  of  the  apostle's  love  and  christiar 
kindness,  unless  we  consider  the  measure  and  degree  of  his 
good  wishes.  It  is  not  enough  for  him  to  wish  us  grace  and 
peace  :  he  prays  that  the  grace  and  peace  may  be  multi- 
phed.  This  is  indeed  blessing  us  with  a  good  measure  of 
blessings,  pressed  down,  and  running  over.  "  Grace  and 
peace  be  multipHed."  Had  he  been  speaking  of  any 
earthly  blessing,  he  would  have  written  difterently.  He 
would  never  have  wished  you  to  have  riches  without  stint, 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


or  power  without  stint,  or  honours  without  stint.  On  the 
contrary,  he  would  have  told  you,  that  an  abundance  of  any 
of  these  things  is  the  most  dangerous  trial  a  man  can  be  put 
to.  Accordingly  the  wise  Agur,  in  praying  against  poverty, 
takes  care  to  pray  also  against  riches.  "  Give  me  not 
riches,"  he  says,  "  lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee,  and  say, 
Who  is  the  Lord?"  (Prov.  xxx.  9.)  .But  in  spiritual  blessings 
it  is  otherwise.  Of  them  there  can  never  be  too  much.  A 
man  can  never  have  too  much  faith,  too  much  holiness,  too 
much  trust  in  God,  too  much  love  for  Christ,  too  much 
patience,  too  much  humility.  Therefore,  in  speaking  of 
those  heavenly  blessings,  grace  and  peace,  the  apostle 
desires  them  for  us  without  any  stint  or  limit,  saying,  "  Grace 
and  peace  be  multiplied  to  you."  Hence  we  may  take  a 
lesson  for  our  own  prayers,  and  learn  to  ask  for  earthly 
things  humbly,  and  with  an  //, — saying,  "  If  it  shall  please 
thee,  O  God,  of  thy  goodness  give  me  so  and  so.  Thou 
knowest,  O  Lord,  what  is  best  for  thy  servant,  grant  me  so 
and  so,  if  it  be  good  for  me."  This  is  the  way  we  ought  to 
pray  for  earthly  blessings  :  for  so  prayed  even  Jesus  himself. 
Even  he,  when  crying  to  the  Father,  during  that  agony  of 
his  spirit  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  even  Jesus,  prayed 
with  an  if, — saying,  "  Father,  if  thou  be  willing,  remove  this 
cup  from  me ;  nevertheless  not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done." 
Let  us  follow  our  Lord^s  example  in  this;  and  when  we 
pray  for  any  earthly  blessings,  beyond  the  mere  necessaries 
of  life,  let  us  ask  for  them  humbly,  and  with  an  if ;  like 
persons  aware  of  our  own  ignorance,  and  who  feel  that  no 
one  can  tell  what  is  truly  good  for  a  man  in  this  life.  But 
for  heavenly  blessings  pray  without  an  if.  For  about  them 
we  do  know  most  certainly,  that  the  more  we  can  get  of 
them  the  better.  Therefore  ask  for  them  earnestly  and 
repeatedly.  Be  not  afraid  of  wearying  God  by  your  entreaties. 
Beg  and  pray  to  him  for  his  pardon,  for  his  love,  for  the 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  23 

help  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  like  men  who  long  to  have  what  they 
ask  for.  Beg  and  pray  to  him  again  and  again,  that  his 
grace  and  peace  may  be  multiplied  and  increased  to  you, 
without  stint,  and  without  measure.  Perhaps  your  petitions 
may  not  be  granted  the  first  time,  nor  the  tenth  time,  nor 
even  the  hundredth  time.  Never  mind  ;  pray  on  the  more 
earnestly,  remembering  our  Saviour's  words,  "  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by 
force"  (Matt.  xi.  12);  that  is  to  say,  you  may  pull  down 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel  by  constant  and  hearty  prayer. 
St.  Paul  too  bids  us  "  desire  spiritual  gifts."  (i  Cor.  xiv.  i.) 
Be  desirous,  then — nay,  be  covetous,  be  greedy  of  them. 
It  is  the  only  kind  of  covetousness  and  greediness  which  is 
praiseworthy,  and  which  is  sure  to  be  satisfied  in  the  end. 
"  The  lions,"  we  read,  that  is,  those  who  are  like  lions,  those 
who  are  greedy  of  any  kind  of  earthly  prey,  "  do  lack  and 
suffer  hunger  "  (Ps.  xxxiv.  10) :  the  more  they  get,  the  more 
they  crave ;  so  that  they  are  never  satisfied,  and  never  can 
be.  But  those  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
and  grace,  and  peace,  and  the  other  gifts  of  God  and  Christ, 
they  are  declared  by  our  Saviour  to  be  "  blessed,  for  they 
shall  be  filled."  Their  wishes  will  be  granted  ;  and  they  will 
v/ant  none  of  those  good  things  for  which  they  have  cried  to 
their  Father. 

Such  is  the  measure  of  the  grace  and  peace  which  the 
apostle  desires  for  us.  He  would  have  them  multiplied 
and  increased  to  us.  But  how  is  this  increase  and  multiply- 
ing to  come  to  us  ?  It  is  to  come  through  "  the  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  Jesus  our  Lord."  If  you  wish  to  receive 
the  multiphed  grace  and  peace,  which  I  have  shewn  you  to 
be  so  precious,  you  must  seek  it  through  the  appointed 
channel;  you  must  seek  it  through  knowledge,  through  a 
spiritual  knowledge,  through  a  living  knowledge,  of  God 
the  Father  and  the   Son.     There   is  a  knowledge  which, 


24  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

St.  Paul  tells  us,  ''  puffs  a  man  up,  and  fills  him  with  a  vain 
conceit "  of  being  wiser  than  his  neighbours.  This  however 
can  never  be  the  knowledge  through  which  grace  and  peace 
are  to  be  multiplied.  For  instance,  a  man  might  be  able  tc 
say  by  heart  all  the  names  in  the  Bible,  all  the  names  of  the 
kings  of  Israel,  all  the  names  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  all  the 
names  of  the  heads  of  the  families  that  returned  with  Nehe- 
miah  from  Babylon.  Yet  this  knowledge  would  profit  him 
nothing.  It  is  only  a  knowledge  of  the  names  of  men; 
whereas  St.  Peter  requires  a  knowledge  of  God  and  his  Son. 
Again,  a  man  might  be  able  to  tell  the  number  of  verses  in 
every  chapter  all  the  Bible  through ;  and  he  might  be  able 
to  say  the  first  word  of  every  chapter,  or  even  the  first  word 
of  every  verse.  Would  that  knowledge  profit  him  ?  No. 
It  would  only  be  a  knowledge  of  words  and  numbers :  it 
would  not  be  a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his  Son.  Or  a 
man  might  be  able  to  explain  all  the  hard  words,  and  to 
tell  the  meaning  of  all  the  hardest  texts  in  the  Bible ;  and 
this  too,  if  he  knew  nothing  besides  about  the  Bible,  would 
profit  him  nothing.  It  would  only  be  a  knowledge  of  diffi- 
culties ;  it  would  not  be  a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  his 
Son.  The  knowledge  which  St.  Peter  recommends  to  us  in 
the  text,  is  not  a  knowledge  of  words,  or  names,  or  num- 
bers ;  it  is  not  a  knowledge  of  what  is  curious,  or  learned, 
or  difficult ;  but  a  practical  and  enlightened  knowledge  of 
the  truths  set  before  us  in  the  Gospel. 

It  must  be  a  practical  knowledge  :  because  religion  is 
in  great  measure  a  practical  thing ;  and  practical  things 
are  learnt  by  practice.  A  man  who  would  learn  religion 
thoroughly,  must  go  through  an  apprenticeship  to  it,  just  as 
he  would  to  a  trade.  '*  If  any  man  will  do  God's  will,"  said 
our  blessed  Lord,  "  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether 
it  be  of  God."  (John  vii.  17.)  To  the  same  purpose  are 
David's  words  :    "  Come,  taste  and  see  how  gracious  the 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND    KNOWLEDGE.  25 

Lord  is!"  (Ps.  xxxiv.  8.)  The  best  way  of  seeing  and 
perceiving  the  grace  of  God  is  to  begin  by  tasting  it.  This 
assuredly  is  the  best  knowledge  that  anybody  can  have  of 
God.  He  who  enjoys  this  precious  knowledge,  has  the 
proof  of  the  Gospel  in  himself.  For  to  him  Jesus  fulfils  the 
promise,  which  he  made  the  night  before  his  crucifixion  : 
"  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words ;  and  my  Father 
will  love  him;  and  we  will  come  to  him,  and  make  our 
abode  with  him."  (John  xiv.  23.) 

Still,  besides  this  practical  knowledge,  every  one,  poor  as 
well  as  rich,  ought  also  to  have  an  enlightened  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  his  blessed  Son  :  and  Jesus,  when  he  brought 
down  the  Gospel  from  heaven,  purposed  that  so  it  should 
be.  The  Gospel  was  meant  to  be  a  light  to  the  mind  of 
every  one,  as  well  as  a  strength  and  comfort  to  the  heart  of 
every  one.  If  christian  education  had  been  duly  established 
in  this  country,  so  it  would  be.  I  am  afraid  in  this  we  are 
gone  backward, — not  indeed  since  our  fathers'  time, — for 
teaching  the  poor  is  more  attended  to  now,  than  it  was 
some  years  ago  :  but  I  fear  we  have  gone  backward  in  this 
matter  since  the  time  of  our  glorious  Reformation ;  and  we 
are  only  beginning  to  recover  our  lost  ground.  Our  fore- 
fathers carried  on  the  education  of  the  poor  by  frequent  and 
diligent  catechizing ;  that  is,  by  questioning  them  over  and 
over  about  the  great  truths  and  facts  and  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. But  now  that  preaching  is  looked  upon  as  the 
great  thing  in  every  church,  this  catechizing  or  questioning 
has  in  many  places  fallen  into  disuse ;  and  I  think  the  poor 
have  lost  by  the  change.  To  profit  by  a  sermon,  a  man 
must  attend  to  it  :  he  must  hear  it  thoroughly ;  he  must 
understand  it ;  he  must  think  it  over  with  himself,  when  he 
gets  home.  How  few  in  any  congregation  will  go  to  all 
this  trouble !  You  come,  and  sit,  and  hear,  and  I  hope  are 
able  in  some  degree  to  follow  the  meaning  of  what  I  say  to 


26  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

you  from  the  pulpit :  yet  how  far  is  this  from  the  under- 
standing and  the  knowledge  by  which  grace  and  peace  are 
to  be  multiplied  !  But  when  a  person  is  catechized,  when 
he  is  asked  questions,  and  called  on  to  answer  them,  he 
must  think ;  he  must  brace  up  his  mind :  unless  he  is 
determined  not  to  learn,  he  can  scarce  help  being  taught 
something.  And  those  who  want  to  learn,  those  who  feel  a 
wish  to  improve,  and  to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  their 
Lord  and  Master, — what  progress  must  they  make  under 
such  instruction !  When  I  speak  thus  of  catechizing,  do 
not  think  I  mean  to  decry  preaching.  Both  are  useful  in 
their  turns,  catechizing  to  prepare  the  ground,  preaching  to 
crop  it.  But  unless  the  mind  be  prepared  by  catechizing, 
preaching  loses  half  its  use. 

Thinking  as  I  do  of  this  practice  of  catechizing,  you  will 
not  be  surprised  that  I  am  very  anxious  the  young  among 
you  should  not  neglect  the  opportunity  of  instruction,  with 
which  I  purpose  to  furnish  them  this  winter.  It  would  be 
a  shame,  if,  in  so  small  a  parish,  I  could  not  contrive  means 
for  teaching  those  who  are  willing  to  be  taught.  In  great 
town  parishes,  where  there  are  sometimes  thousands  of 
souls,  a  minister,  with  the  best  wishes  for  the  welfare  of  his 
people,  cannot  find  time  to  do  all  he  wishes :  what  is  he 
among  so  many?  But  here,  where  we  all  live  so  close 
together, — here,  where  one  small  hamlet,— it  is  hardly  more, 
— contains  all  the  people  under  my  care,  if  the  poor  are  not 
duly  trained  and  brought  up  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  his  Son,  blame  and  guilt  must  needs  lie  somewhere. 
God  grant  it  lie  not  with  me  !  God  grant  it  be  not  said  to 
me  in  the  last  day,  "  Here  is  a  soul  that  was  committed  to 
your  charge :  it  might  have  been  saved  by  your  watchful- 
ness :  you  neglected  it ;  and  it  is  lost."  But  if  this  would 
to  me  be  a  most  sorrowful  hearing,  so  as  to  embitter,  if  it 
were  possible,  the  very  joys  of  heaven,  how  must  it  steep 


GRACE,  PEACE,  AND  KNOWLEDGE.  27 

the  soul  in  misery  on  that  dreadful  day  for  one  of  you  to 
hear,  "  You  have  no  excuse  to  plead  :  you  had  every  oppor- 
tunity of  instruction,  and  you  would  not  learn ;  you  would 
not  hear :  your  obstinacy  and  heedlessness  have  ruined  your 
soul  1" 

For  there  is  only  one  way  of  attaining  to  the  enlightened 
knowledge  I  spoke  of.  By  going  to  the  light.  God  has 
given  us  his  word  to  be  a  lantern  to  our  feet,  and  a  light  to 
our  paths.  Go  then  to  that  blessed  light.  Take  your  Bible, 
and  study  it  carefully ;  and  it  will  teach  you  all  that  you 
have  so  much  need  to  know  both  about  the  Father  and  the 
Son.  Happily  this  great  and  good  light  which  God  has 
given  us  in  his  book,  is  set  within  the  reach  of  many  more 
persons  now,  than  it  was  forty  years  back.  Bibles  and  Tes- 
taments are  now  so  cheap,  that  a  few  pence  will  buy  a  New 
Testament ;  and  Sunday-schools  and  other  schools  are  so 
common,  that  almost  every  child  may  learn  to  read,  who 
will.  Here  we  have  the  hght  of  God's  holy  word  placed 
within  the  reach  of  every  one.  Is  not  this  a  great  and 
glorious  privilege — a  privilege  to  be  heartily  thankful  for? 
If  it  is,  shew  your  thankfulness  to  God  for  this  great  gift,  by 
making  a  good  use  of  it.  Some  of  the  older  persons  among 
you  perhaps  have  never  learnt  to  read  :  if  so,  they  can  best 
tell  what  a  sad  loss  it  is,  to  be  unable  to  read  with  one's 
own  eyes  the  wonderful  works  of  God  in  Christ.  Do  I  say 
this  to  discourage  these  poor  unlettered  persons  ?  Not  so  • 
but  to  remind  them  that,  if  one  way  of  improving  their 
knowledge  of  Christ,  the  way  of  reading,  is  closed  to  them, 
another  way  is  still  open,  the  way  of  hearing.  Let  them  be 
the  more  careful  then  to  learn  in  that  way,  since  they  can 
learn  in  no  other  :  and  for  their  comfort,  let  them  remember 
the  apostle's  words,  *'  Faith  cometh  by  hearing."  (Rom.  x.  17.) 
In  former  times,  when  books  were  scarce,  faith  came  to  the 
poor  in  the  way  of  hearing  only.     In  our  days  it  has  pleased 


28  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

God  to  open  wider  than  before  a  second  way  to  the  know- 
ledge of  his  will,  the  way  of  reading.  Still  there  are  elderly 
persons  who  cannot  read  ;  and  these  should  beware  of  neg- 
lecting any  opportunity  of  coming  to  this  place,  to  hear  the 
word  of  God. 

But  children  are  without  excuse,  if  they  do  not  learn  to 
read,  as  well  as  hear.  Yes,  children,  you  must  learn  to 
read  the  word  of  God.  When  you  go  to  school,  above  all, 
when  you  come  to  your  Sunday-school,  do  not  come  as  to 
a  task ;  but  come  with  hearts  full  of  thankfulness  to  God, 
for  giving  you  such  means  of  learning  the  way  to  heaven. 
Come  with  a  wish  to  learn  all  you  can  about  God  and  his 
blessed  Son.  Do  not  think  it  enough,  if  you  learn  to  spell, 
and  to  read,  and  to  say  the  words  of  Scripture :  but  seek  to 
learn  the  truths  of  Scripture.  Do  as  the  bees  do.  A  bee, 
when  it  sees  a  flower,  does  not  fly  round  and  round  it,  and 
sip  it,  and  then  off  again,  like  the  foolish  idle  butterflies  :  it 
settles  on  the  flower,  and  sucks  the  honey  out  of  it.  So 
should  you,  when  you  come  to  one  of  the  beautiful  parables 
which  Jesus  spake,  or  to  one  of  the  miracles  which  Jesus 
did  :  you  should  do  as  the  bees  do  ;  you  should  settle  your 
thoughts  on  what  you  read,  and  try  to  suck  the  honey  out 
of  it.  But  why  do  I  speak  of  the  parables  and  miracles  ? 
Almost  every  verse  of  the  New  Testament  has  its  honey. 
Almost  every  verse  contains  a  spiritual  truth  fit  to  nourish 
some  soul  or  other. 

Almost  every  verse  of  the  New  Testament,  I  say,  contains 
a  spiritual  truth  fit  to  nourish  some  soul  or  other.  For 
though  every  man  has  equal  need  to  be  nourished  by  the 
Bible,  yet  we  do  not  all  require  the  same  spiritual  food  : 
nay,  we  may  require  one  kind  of  spiritual  food  to-day,  and 
another  kind  next  year.  The  old  have  not  the  same  temp- 
tations as  the  young  :  the  rich  have  not  the  same  sort  of 
temptations  as  the  poor  :  the  prosperous  and  happy  have 


GRACE,    PEACE,    AND   KNOWLEDGE.  29 

not  the  same  sort  of  temptations  as  the  sorrowful.  But 
every  age,  every  rank,  every  condition  of  life,  has  its  own 
trials,  and  its  own  temptations ;  and  perhaps  these  temp- 
tations may  not  be  the  same  a  couple  of  weeks  together. 
For  this  reason  the  Bible  is  not  a  book  to  be  read  through 
once  or  twice,  and  then  laid  by:  it  must  be  read  and 
thought  upon  again  and  again.  The  oftener  you  go  to  it 
for  counsel  and  nourishment,  the  better,  the  wiser,  the 
stronger,  the  happier  you  will  become.  Go  to  it  then  in 
youth,  for  such  nourishment  as  youth  needs  :  go  to  it  in 
manhood  and  old  age,  for  such  nourishment  as  manhood 
and  old  age  need.  Let  me  rather  say,  go  to  it  for  your 
daily  bread.  Seek  in  it  whatever  may  be  necessary  for  the 
present  nourishment  of  your  souls :  and  pray  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  open  your  eyes,  that  you  may  find  that  nourish- 
ment. •  And  when  you  have  found  it,  still  do  as  the  bees 
do ;  hive  it ;  store  it  up  in  your  memories  against  the  day 
of  trial.  Remember,  it  was  by  the  truth  of  Scripture, 
which  he  had  stored  up  in  his  memory  during  youth,  that 
our  Saviour  himself,  when  he  was  tempted  in  the  wilder- 
ness, was  pleased  to  baffle  the  wiles  of  the  devil.  If  we 
would  beat  off  Satan,  as  Jesus  did,  we  must  use  the  same 
weapon  as  Jesus  used  :  we  must  oppose  him  with  the  word 
of  God.  That  word,  like  the  spears  which  the  ancients 
used  to  fight  with,  is  at  once  a  weapon  and  a  prop  :  it  has 
a  point  to  drive  away  the  enemy ;  it  has  a  staff  to  support 
us  on  our  road.  Lean  on  that  staff,  which  is  the  promises 
of  God  :  it  shall  support  you,  when  your  heart  is  ready  to 
sink.  Fight  with  that  point,  which  is  the  sharp  commands 
of  God  :  and  the  tempter  shall  flee  before  you.  So  walking, 
and  so  fighting,  not  in  your  own  strength,  but  in  humble 
reliance  upon  that  Almighty  Lord,  whose  word  standeth  fast 
for  ever,  you  shall  attain  to  that  knowledge  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  which  St.  Peter  speaks  of  in  the  text.     You 


30  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

shall  see  the  Father  as  he  is  in  himself,  pure,  and  severe, 
and  holy ;  as  he  is  in  his  Son,  loving,  merciful,  and  forgiving ; 
the  man  Jesus,  patient  and  obedient, — the  incarnate  Son, 
humbling  himself  out  of  the  purest  love, — the  same  Son, 
sitting  on  his  Father's  judgment-seat,  the  punisher  of  all 
who  have  shut  their  hearts  against  his  mercy.  This  is  the 
knowledge  which  leads  to  grace  and  peace.  In  proportion 
as  you  come  to  see  the  Father  and  his  Christ  in  these  their 
true  and  heavenly  characters,  you  will  grow  to  feel  God's 
goodness  more  and  more :  you  will  learn  to  hate  sin  more 
and  more  :  you  will  learn  to  love  God's  law,  to  be  meek 
and  spiritually-minded ;  and  these  things  lead  to  great 
peace ;  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 


III. 

GROWTH  IN  GRACE. 

2  Peter  iii.  18. 

Grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

HTHESE  are  the  concluding  words  of  the  second  epistle 
"'-  general  of  St.  Peter.  They  contain  the  last  advice 
which  that  apostle  has  left  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  For 
his  epistle  is  not  addressed  to  any  particular  Church,  or  to 
the  Christians  of  any  particular  age.  It  is  a  general  epistle 
to  all  who  have  been  called  to  share  in  the  great  and 
precious  promises  of  the  gospel.  What  is  said  in  it,  is  said 
to  all  Christian  people,  and  of  course  to  us  among  the 
number.  Let  us  look  then  on  the  text,  as  the  parting 
exhortation  bequeathed  by  St.  Peter  to  us.  Let  us  con- 
sider him  as  saying  to  us  personally,  Grow  in  grace  and 
spiritual  knowledge.  Do  not  sit  down  satisfied  with  your 
present  progress  in  religion.  Do  not  fancy  you  have  already 
attained  to  that  holiness  and  righteousness  which  ought  to 
be  the  mark  of  Christians.  Beware  of  slumbering  or 
halting  on  the  road.  Beware  of  mistaking  words  and  pro- 
fessions for  Christian  faith,  a  decent  behaviour  for  Chris- 
tian practice,  the  outward  form  for  the  inward  spirit.  It  is 
not  enough  for  Christ's  soldiers  to  stand  their  ground,  and 


32  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

maintain  their  steadfastness  :  they  must  press  forward  and 
gain  more  ground.  It  is  not  enough  for  them  not  to  fall 
from  grace:  they  must  make  new  shoots  upwards,  and 
grow  in  grace  ;  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  growing  in 
religious  knowledge  also. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  purport  of  St.  Peter's  farewell 
charge  to  us :  and  surely  the  last  words  of  so  great  an 
apostle  must  be  well  deserving  of  our  most  serious  attention. 
Let  me  beg  you  therefore  to  give  me  that  attention,  while  I 
try  to  set  before  you  what  is  meant  by  growing  in  grace  and 
in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  grace  of  God,  in  its  most  general  sense,  stands  for 
his  favour  and  loving-kindness.  When  we  pray  for  it,  we 
pray  God  to  bestow  his  favour  upon  us.  But  in  the  New 
Testament  the  words  are  applied  more  especially  to  that 
most  wonderful  and  chiefest  instance  of  God's  love,  his 
seeking  to  save  and  restore  a  guilty  world  through  the  blood 
of  his  Son.  Herein,  above  all,  was  the  grace  and  goodness 
of  God  displayed  to  us  in  its  whole  fulness, — in  that,  when 
we  had  strayed  from  God,  God  sent  his  own  Son  to  lead  us 
back  to  him, — in  that,  when  expiation  and  atonement  for 
sin  were  required  by  his  justice  and  holiness,  the  Lamb  of 
God  came  and  offered  up  himself  as  a  sacrifice  in  our  stead, 
— in  that,  to  give  us  a  new  heart,  a  heart  capable  of  loving 
and  obeying  the  Father,  the  holy  and  eternal  Spirit  is 
waiting  to  take  up  his  abode  within  us,  to  fill  our  souls  with 
the  comfort  of  his  presence,  and  to  make  our  very  bodies 
his  temples.  These,  my  brethren,  are  the  blessings  which 
God  is  holding  out  to  you,  and  to  me,  and  to  every  one 
who  is  called  by  the  name  of  Christ.  He  invites  you  to 
them  as  to  a  rich  feast,  in  that  noble  passage  of  Isaiah  (Iv.  i) ; 
"  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and 
he  that  hath  no  money ;  come  ye,  buy,  and  eat ;  yea,  come, 
buy  wine  and  milk  without  money  and  without  price."     No 


GROWTH    IN    GRACE.  33 

invitation  can  be  more  bountiful,  or  more  pressing :  none 
therefore  can  be  more  gracious.  It  has  the  grace  of  con- 
descension, for  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  to  abase 
himself  so  as  to  invite,  and  even  to  entreat  his  creatures,  as 
he  does  in  many  passages  of  Scripture,  where  he  almost 
forces  them  to  come  in  and  see  the  dainties  he  has  prepared 
for  them.  It  has  the  grace  of  bounteousness,  to  make  ready- 
so  nourishing  and  rich  a  banquet  for  all  who  will  be  at  the 
pains  of  going  to  it.  To  this  we  must  add  that  most 
necessary  and  precious  gift,  or  favour,  or  grace,  (for  the 
name  does  not  matter,  so  you  understand  the  thing,)  the 
grace  of  mercy.  When  a  king  grants  a  pardon  to  his 
rebellious  subjects,  it  is  called  an  act  of  grace.  Well  then 
may  the  universal  pardon  which  the  King  of  heaven  has 
freely  offered  to  his  rebellious  subjects  and  children,  if  they 
will  only  come  to  him  and  accept  it,  well  may  a  pardon 
joined  with  so  much  bounteousness  and  condescension  be 
called  pre-eminently  the  grace  of  God. 

From  this  explanation  of  grace,  it  is  easy  to  gather  what 
the  being  in  a  state  of  grace  means,  and  also  to  perceive 
when  it  may  be  truly  said  of  any  one,  that  he  is  in  such  a 
state.  To  be  in  a  state  of  grace  is  to  be  at  peace  with 
God.  It  is  to  have  come  in  and  surrendered  ourselves,  as 
it  were,  and  confessed  our  guilt ;  and  having  acknowledged 
our  rebellion,  and  thrown  ourselves  on  his  promised  mercy, 
and  pleaded  the  death  and  merits  of  his  Son  as  our  only 
ground  of  pardon,  it  is  to  show  our  grateful  sense  of  the 
forgiveness  vouchsafed  to  us  by  living  thenceforward  as  be- 
comes the  people  of  God.  This  is  being  in  a  state  of  grace. 
For  though  God's  pardon  is  unbought  and  not  to  be  bought 
by  any  human  means,  though  they  who  buy  it  are  to  buy  it 
without  money  and  without  price,  still  it  is  not  uncon- 
ditional. He  pardons  all  who  come  to  receive  their  lives  at 
his  hand,  but  none  else.     If  a  man  will  not  come  to  God, 

D 


34  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

his  sin  and  guilt  cleave  to  him.  When  pardon  is  granted 
to  a  rebel,  on  his  surrendering  himself  to  the  king's  officers, 
and  delivering  up  his  arms,  and  promising  to  behave  better, 
it  stands  to  reason  that  the  pardon  will  hold  good  only  so 
long  as  the  promise  is  kept.  If  the  man  breaks  his  word, 
and  commits  fresh  outrages  against  the  king's  authority,  his 
life  is  once  more  forfeited.  This,  which  is  true  of  earthly 
pardons,  is  equally  true  of  heavenly.  Every  one  who  lives 
in  sin,  is  living  at  enmity  with  God.  He  is  living  in 
rebellion  against  the  ruler  of  the  w^orld ;  and  so  long  as  he 
continues  in  such  rebellion,  he  is  shut  out  by  his  own 
wilful  obstinacy  and  perverseness  from  the  free  pardon 
which  God  has  offered  to  mankind.  It  is  impossible  to  be 
in  a  state  of  grace,  so  long  as  we  abide  in  any  known  sin, 
whether  of  body  or  mind,  whether  of  habit  or  passion, 
whether  of  society  or  selfishness.  Of  every  sin,  and  every 
kind  of  sin,  understand  clearly,  that  the  indulging  in  it  is  a 
bar  which  must  shut  you  out  from  a  state  of  grace.  They 
who  are  in  a  state  of  grace,  have  at  least  set  their  faces 
toward  the  heavenly  city :  they  have  passed  the  strait  gate, 
and  have  entered  on  the  narrow  way  that  leads  to  life. 

It  is  not  enough  however  for  a  person  to  be  in  a  state  of 
grace,  unless  he  afterward  persevere  and  grow  in  grace. 
Now  what  is  meant  by  growth  in  grace?  It  means  that  the 
beginning  of  a  journey  is  not  the  end  of  it.  It  means  that 
we  must  advance  in  holiness,  that,  instead  of  resting  on  our 
oars,  and  priding  ourselves  on  our  present  small  attainments, 
we  must  press  forward,  giving  all  diligence,  as  St.  Peter 
expresses  it  in  a  former  passage  of  this  Epistle,  that  we  may 
add  to  our  faith  virtue,  or  energy,  and  to  energy  knowledge, 
and  to  knowledge  temperance,  and  to  temperance  patience, 
and  to  patience  brotherly  kindness,  and  to  brotherly  kind- 
ness universal  charity.  Here  is  a  goodly  list  of  qualities 
wherein  to  cultivate  growth  in  grace,  and  to  go  on  all  our 


GROWTH    IN    GRACE. 


35 


lives  advancing  from  grace  to  grace  and  from  strength  to 

strength. 

But  wiiy  does  the  apostle  call  it  growth  ?  Perhaps  to 
remind  us  that  the  improvement  he  exhorts  us  to  is  not  a 
mere  mechanical  task,  which  a  man  can  begin  and  finish 
for  himself;  but  that  it  is  more  like  the  gradual  and  secret 
workings  of  nature,  where,  though  it  is  man's  duty  to  dig 
and  plough,  and  plant  and  sow,  and  weed  and  water,  yet, 
after  all  is  done,  God  alone  giveth  the  increase  ;  and  unless 
he  is  pleased  to  bless  the  labours  of  the  husbandman,  they 
will  have  been  in  vain.  Be  this  the  reason  or  no,  certain  it 
is  that  in  many  places  of  Scripture  a  godly  life  is  compared 
to  growth.  Indeed  the  very  word  life  would  lead  us  to  look 
for  growth :  for  everything  that  lives  grows  or  has  grown. 

This,  which  is  true  of  the  lives  of  animals  and  plants,  is 
equally  true  of  the  lives  of  Christians.  The  beginning  of  a 
christian  life,  you  know,  is  called  regeneration,  or  the  being 
born  again.  But  a  Christian  is  not  born  full-grown  in  grace, 
any  more  than  in  body.  We  can  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  only  as  little  children  ;  and  from  that  smallness  and 
weakness  of  spiritual  childhood  we  are  to  rise  by  degrees  to 
the  fullness  of  stature  which  belongs  to  christian  manhood. 
Now  this  great  change  and  increase  can  only  be  brought 
about  by  the  soul's  growing  in  grace,  just  as  the  body  grows 
in  strength  and  size.  Such  growth  is  indeed  most  necessary 
to  a  christian  life ;  seeing  that,  if  we  live  on  without  it,  a 
thing  most  shameful  will  befall  us.  We  shall  be  old  in 
years,  and  infants  in  holiness  :  infants,  not  in  sinlessness, — 
for  in  sins  we  shall  be  old  enough, — but  infants  in  our  want 
of  strength,  infants  in  our  want  of  knowledge,  infants  in  our 
want  of  self-control,  infants  in  our  utter  inability  to  walk 
straight,  or  to  stand  the  least  push  of  temptation.  In  all 
these  things,  if  we  do  not  grow  in  grace,  we  shall  be  no 
better  than  a  tottering  child.     Our  spiritual  life  will  want 


36  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

nerves  and  sinews;  and  so  we  shall  draw  down  on  ourselves 
the  reproach  of  Reuben, — "  Unstable  as  water,  thou  shalt 
not  excel,"  (Gen.  xlix.  4,)  and  like  him  shall  forfeit  our 
inheritance.  Nay,  unless  we  grow  in  grace,  what  shall  we 
become  in  the  end,  but  as  it  were  so  many  spiritual  dwarfs  ? 
Now  what  can  be  more  unsightly  ?  what  can  be  more  con- 
trary to  that  beauty  of  holiness,  which  the  Bible  so  often 
speaks  of  ?  Few  things  are  so  displeasing  to  the  eyes  of 
man,  as  a  little  stunted  misshapen  dwarf,  who  yet  is  only  a 
dwarf  in  body  :  could  you  see  a  dwarf  in  soul,  however,  had 
you  spiritual  eyes  to  perceive  him  with,  you  would  all  cry 
out  that  he  is  far  more  displeasing.  The  dwarf  in  body  is 
an  object  not  for  mockery  but  for  pity;  for  his  growth  was 
not  checked  by  any  fault  of  his  own :  it  is  an  affliction 
which  God  has  sent  him.  But  the  dwarf,  the  hideous  dwarf 
in  soul,  might  have  been  otherwise  if  he  would.  Strive 
then  to  grow  in  grace,  and  take  care  that  ye  be  not  dwarfs 
in  soul.  Let  the  seed  of  the  word  grow  within  you.  Seed, 
you  know,  is  of  no  value  unless  it  spring  up.  So  is  it  with 
the  seed  of  truth  :  that  too  must  spring  up,  and  grow,  and 
must  bear  fruit :  or  we  shall  never  be  able  to  pay  God  the 
rent  due  to  him  for  the  farm  of  life  which  he  has  let  to  us. 
You  remember  how  in  the  parable  of  the  vineyard,  when 
harvest  came,  the  Lord  sent  a  servant  to  the  husbandman 
to  receive  his  share  of  the  fruit.  But  whence  is  the  fruit  to 
come,  if  there  be  no  growth  ?  In  every  point  of  view,  then, 
whether  we  look  on  ourselves  as  God's  tenants,  who  owe 
him  rent,  or  as  babes  in  Christ,  who  would  fain  become 
perfect  men, — in  every  way  there  must  be  growth. 

But  if  growth  in  grace  be  thus  necessary  and  important, 
how  are  we  to  know  for  certain  whether  we  are  so  growing 
or  not  ?  We  may  know  it  by  comparing  the  state  of  our 
souls  at  present,  with  what  it  was  a  twelvemonth  ago.  Is 
there  any  temptation  which  you  have  outgrown,  and  lost 


GROWTH    IN    GRACE.  37 


your  relish  for  :  as  a  man  outgrows  the  games  and  sports  of 
his  childhood,  and  loses  all  relish  for  the  playthings  and 
the  cakes  which  a  few  years  back  he  was  so  fond  of?  Or 
is  there  any  duty,  which  a  twelvemonth  ago  was  irksome  to 
you,  and  which  you  have  now  learnt  to  practise,  and  gained 
a  taste  for  ?  If  you  can  answer  these  two  questions  satis- 
factorily, and  find  on  examination  that  you  have  made  what 
looks  like  an  improvement,  it  remains  for  you  in  that  case 
to  ask  yourselves,  whether  the  improvement  is  a  real  one  ? 
Is  it  a  cleansing  of  the  outside  of  the  platter  only  ?  or  have 
you  been  scouring  the  inside  also  ?  I  mean,  the  heart.  Is 
it  a  growth  in  christian  grace  ?  or  m.erely  a  greater  regard 
for  common  decency  ?  While  you  fancy  you  have  been 
improving,  have  you  not  peradventure  been  only  changing 
one  sin  for  another  ?  This  is  a  very  important  question : 
because  many  deceive  themselves,  to  their  own  mischief,  by 
fancying  they  are  growing  better,  when  in  truth  they  are 
only  growing  older,  and  are  laying  aside  the  sinful  intem- 
perance and  extravagance  of  youth,  to  take  up  in  their 
stead  the  no  less  sinful  harshness  and  worldly-mindedness 
of  old  age.  In  a  word,  the  true  question  to  be  answered  is, 
have  you  since  this  time  twelvemonth  been  going  forward 
on  the  road  to  heaven  ?  or  have  you  been  going  backward  ? 
Many  will  doubtless  answer,  we  have  been  standing  still. 
But  in  so  saying  you  pass  a  judgment  against  yourselves, 
and  confess  that  you  have  been  going  backward.  For  life 
is  a  stream ;  and  he  who  does  not  work  his  way  up  it,  is 
carried  down.  Throw  a  stick  into  a  river:  will  it  stand 
still  ?  Because,  with  so  many  temptations,  and  so  many 
evil  customs,  setting  down  the  stream  against  you,  no  more 
will  you  stand  still,  if  you  give  way  lazily  to  the  current. 
It  will  bear  you  before  it,  slowly  perhaps,  but  surely ;  just 
as  a  river,  however  sluggish,  is  sure  to  carry  down  the  stick. 
Some  motion  there  must  be  one  way  or  other :  if  you  do 


/ 


38  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

not  move  toward  God,  you  will  be  moved  away  from  him. 
Growth  there  must  be  one  way  or  other :  if  you  ^do  not 
grow  upward,  you  will  grow  downward :  if  you  do  not  rise 
up  straight  like  a  poplar,  you  will  become  as  crooked  and 
full  of  knots  as  an  old  crab,  Avhich  is  good  for  nothing  but 
to  be  cut  down  and  burnt. 

There  is  another  test  and  sign  of  growth  in  grace,  which 
I  will  mention :  an  increased  use  of  the  means  of  grace, 
and  an  increased  and  increasing  delight  and  relish  in  using 
them.  Do  you  come  to  church  oftener  than  you  did? 
While  here  do  you  attend  more  to  the  prayers,  and  try 
more  to  join  in  them?  Do  you  listen  more  than  you  did 
formerly  to  the  sermon,  and  apply  it  to  yourself  as  a  glass 
to  see  your  own  sins  with  ?  Do  you  pray  oftener  when  you 
are  alone  ?  Do  you  take  more  delight  in  prayer  ?  and 
when  you  pray,  do  you  find  that  you  think  more  about 
what  you  are  asking  from  God,  that  you  care  more  about 
it,  that  you  wish  for  it  more,  than  you  did  some  time  back  ? 
Do  you  take  up  your  Bible  oftener,  and  enjoy  reading  it 
more,  and  find  you  understand  it  better?  Do  you  feel 
a  greater  desire  to  partake  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and 
a  greater  comfort  when  you  have  taken  it?  These  are 
among  the  surest  signs  of  growth  in  grace :  and  he  who 
finds  them  in  himself,  may  cheer  himself  with  the  thought 
that  he  is  truly  increasing,  not  in  grace  alone,  but  also  in 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

For  in  this  too  does  the  apostle  in  the  text  exhort  us  to 
grow.  Not  in  mere  head  knowledge  :  this  of  itself  is  worth 
nothing.  "If  ye  know  these  things,  (says  our  Saviour,) 
happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them."  He  does  not  say,  that  we 
are  happy  if  we  know  them.  That  by  itself  can  never 
make  us,  can  never  make  any  one  happy.  On  the  con- 
trary, his  words  imply,  that,  if  we  know  them,  and  do  them 
not,  we  shall  not  be  happy,  but  most  wretched.     Though 


GROWTH    IN    GRACE.  39 


knowledge  however,  apart  from  practice,  is  worth  nothing, 
yet  knowledge  of  Christ  and  of  his  will,  as  guiding  to 
practice,  is  most  excellent.  Nor  is  it  merely  excellent : 
it  is  necessary.  For  though  we  may  know,  and  not  do, 
yet,  unless  we  know,  how  shall  we  do?  How  can  men 
believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  Faith  must 
come  either  by  hearing  the  word  of  God,  or  by  reading  it. 
Without  this,  be  it  reading  or  be  it  hearing,  without  some 
instruction,  without  some  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  there 
can  be  no  entrance  into  a  state  of  grace.  Religious  know- 
ledge being  then  in  a  manner  the  key  of  grace,  must  needs 
be  necessary  to  all  who  desire  to  enter  it.  Indeed,  if  you 
think  a  little,  you  will  see  that  knowledge,  and  nothing 
else,  is  at  bottom  the  difference  between  you  and  the 
heathens.  They  have  never  heard  of  Christ ;  you  have : 
therefore  they  do  not  beUeve  in  him;  and  you  profess 
that  you  do.  Had  they  been  bred  in  a  christian  country, 
had  they  been  brought  to  church  from  their  early  years,  and 
sent  to  school,  and  had  the  same  advantages  which  people 
enjoy  here  in  England,  they  too  would  have  been  called 
Christians,  just  as  we  are.  Judge  then,  whether  it  be  not 
your  duty  to  increase  in  religious  knowledge  as  much  as 
possible,  that  you  may  not  be  almost  but  altogether  Chris- 
tians. Judge,  whether  it  does  not  behove  you  to  prize  the 
lamp  thus  entrusted  to  you ;  not  allowing  it  to  get  dim  or 
smoky  through  neglect,  or  to  go  out  for  want  of  oil,  but 
ever  trimming  it  and  rubbing  it,  keeping  the  glass  quite 
clear,  and  feeding  the  flame  continually  with  the  best  and 
purest  oil,  that  its  light  may  be  the  brightest  possible.  The 
certainty  of  aim,  the  steadiness  of  will,  the  single-minded- 
ness,  the  calm,  noble,  unswerving,  persevering  onwardness 
of  purposes,  which  a  light  such  as  this  gives  a  man,  are 
above  all  price.  Instead  of  wandering  hither  and  thither, 
groping  his  way  like  a  blind  or  a  benighted  person,  he  walks 


40  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

in  the  light  of  day.  Whatever  his  object  may  be, — and 
some  object  it  will  be  whereby  God  may  be  glorified  and 
man  bettered, — that  object  he  sees  clearly  :  he  sees  too  the 
straight  road  leading  to  it :  and  along  that  road  he  keeps 
ever  advancing,  overcoming  the  obstacles  in  his  way  by 
God's  assistance,  and  with  a  gentle  but  unyielding  hand 
pushing  aside  whatever  would  cross  or  thwart  him. 

It  is  not  mere  head-knowledge  however,  that  St.  Peter 
speaks  of  when  he  would  have  us  grow  in  the  knowledge 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  a  Hving 
knowledge,  a  practical  knowledge,  a  knowledge  of  the 
heart,  the  only  knowledge  which  God  loves  :  and  this, 
we  may  be  sure,  is  included  in  the  apostle's  precept.  To 
describe  it  in  three  words,  it  is  knowledge  joined  with  love. 
If  a  man  wants  to  know  a  thing,  he  will  learn  it :  if  the 
thing  be  good  in  his  eyes,  the  more  he  knows  about  it, 
the  more  he  will  love  it :  and  again  the  more  he  loves  it, 
the  more  he  will  give  his  mind  to  it :  thus  his  knowledge 
and  his  love  will  foster  each  other,  and  the  two  will  grow 
together  apace.  Now  that  a  knowledge  of  this  sort  will  help 
a  man  to  grow  in  grace,  it  cannot  take  many  words  to 
shew. 

For  he  that  grows  in  such  a  knowledge  of  Christ,  is 
growing  at  once  in  christian  faith  and  in  christian  love. 
And  he  who  has  faith  and  love,  has  the  two  eagle's  wings 
which  bear  the  soul  up  above  the  cares  and  snares  of  Hfe, 
to  that  living  fountain  of  light  and  joy  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness in  the  heavens.  It  is  said  that  young  eagles  will  look 
upon  the  sun,  and  gaze  till  their  bright  eyes  become  clearer 
and  more  piercing,  by  drinking  in  light  from  that  source  of 
all  earthly  brightness.  Follow  their  example,  my  brethren  : 
look  at  Christ.  Gaze  day  by  day  at  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness :  gaze  at  him  from  your  youth  upward  ;  and  your 
minds  will  in  like  manner  become  brighter  and   clearer, 


GROWTH    IN    GRACE.  41 


your  hearts  will  become  purer  and  stronger.  There  is  a 
special  promise  in  the  40th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  that  they  who 
wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles. 
They  shall  mount  up, — but  whither  ?  To  the  throne  of 
grace,  that  there  they  may  receive  grace ;  to  the  presence 
of  Jesus,  that  they  may  converse  with  him  and  dwell  with 
him.  They  shall  mount, — but  how  ?  As  the  young  bright- 
eyed  eagle  mounts,  to  drink  in  more  and  more  light  by 
gazing  on  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  If  blessings  such  as 
these  be  ever  vouchsafed  to  us, — and  they  will  if  we  strive 
and  pray  for  them  earnestly, — then  all  that  will  remain  for 
us,  will  be  to  cherish  God's  blessed  gift  by  a  deeper  sense 
of  what  he  has  thus  done  for  us,  by  a  greater  tenderness  of 
conscience,  and  a  livelier  shrinking  from  every  blast  of  sin. 
We  must  give  heed  to  walk  in  all  things  according  to  the 
light  we  have  received.  And  we  must  beware  of  thinking 
that  what  we  have  is  enough.  We  must  endeavour  heartily 
to  obtain  more  light,  more  of  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
God,  more  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  more  of  his  love  and  of 
the  power  of  his  holiness,  that  we  may  grow  in  grace  as  we 
grow  in  years,  until  we  are  at  last  transplanted  from  earth 
to  heaven,  there  to  grow  for  ever  in  the  paradise  of  God. 


IV. 

DO  AND  YOU  SHALL  KNOW ; 

OR, 
THE  WILL  AND  THE  DOCTRINE. 

John  vii.  17. 

If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God. 

HTHE  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  altogether  a  practical 
-*"  thing.  There  is  only  one  way  of  learning  it ;  by 
practising  it.  There  is  only  one  way  of  knowing  it ;  by 
living  according  to  it.  This  is  what  our  Lord  says  in  the 
text.  *'  They  who  will  do  the  will  of  God,  they  who  will 
put  their  hand  to  the  plough,  and  set  about  doing  their  best 
to  obey  God,  shall  know  of  my  doctrine,  whether  it  comes 
from  God  or  not.  Its  purpose  is,  not  merely  to  teach  men 
what  is  good,  but  to  make  them  good :  and  it  is  only  by 
trying  the  experiment  for  himself,  it  is  only  by  striving  to 
do  the  will  of  God,  that  any  man  can  find  out  what  great 
power  there  is  in  my  religion,  to  change  him  into  a  new 
creature,  and  to  make  him  wise  unto  salvation.  Thus  will 
he  be  convinced  that  the  words  which  I  speak,  and  which 
have  such  power,  I  speak  not  of  myself,  as  a  man  :  but 
that,  as  the  power  in  them  is  the  power  of  God,  so  the 
words  themselves  and  the  doctrine,  must  be  from  God." 


THE    WILL    AND    THE    DOCTRINE.  43 

Such  is  the  account  which  Jesus  Christ  in  the  text  gives 
of  his  doctrine.  He  does  not  say,  that  they  who  go  to 
church  twice  every  Sunday,  shall  know  of  his  doctrine, 
whether  it  is  from  God.  He  does  not  say,  that  they  who 
read  a  couple  of  chapters  of  the  Bible  every  day,  shall  know 
of  his  doctrine,  whether  it  is  from  God.  But  endeavour  to 
do  the  will  of  God ;  and  then  you  will  know  that  the  doc- 
trine comes  from  God.  By  listening  to  sermons  in  church, 
and  by  reading  the  Bible  at  home,  you  learn  what  the  doc- 
trine is ;  but  by  trying  to  do  God's  will,  you  learn  something 
of  much  greater  importance  :  you  learn  that  it  comes  from 
God.  You  see  its  truth.  You  feel  its  heavenly  power  of 
raising  man  from  sin  to  righteousness,  of  freeing  him  from 
the  bondage  of  Satan,  and  turning  him  into  a  child  of  God. 
In  a  word,  by  coming  to  hear  sermons,  and  by  reading  the 
Bible,  you  learn  what  a  Christian  ought  to  be :  by  striving 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  you  are  a  Christian. 

This,  our  Lord  tells  us,  is  the  right  way  to  ascertain 
v/hether  his  doctrine  comes  from  God.  It  is  the  right  way, 
and  the  only  way.  Unless  we  try  to  do  God's  will,  nothing 
else  can  teach  us  this  truth.  No  labour,  no  learning,  no 
cleverness,  no  thought  will  enable  us  to  find  it  out.  We 
may  read  our  eyes  blind,  and  wear  out  our  understandings, 
in  poring  over  the  Bible ;  it  will  only  be  the  word  of  man 
to  us,  not  the  word  of  God. 

I  began  by  saying  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
altogether  a  practical  thing.  This  is  the  first  and  simplest 
and  main  reason  why  we  are  to  learn  it  practically.  Just 
consider  how  we  are  taught  anything  else  that  is  practical ; 
how  a  child,  for  instance,  is  taught  to  read.  Is  it  by  hear- 
ing about  reading  ?  or  by  being  read  to  ?  A  child  might 
hear  about  reading,  and  might  hear  reading,  all  its  life  long; 
and,  were  this  all,  it  would  never  be  able  to  tell  one  letter 
from  another.     It  can  only  learn  to  read  by  trying  to  read. 


44 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


It  must  begin  by  learning  its  letters  :  when  it  knows  its 
letters  thoroughly,  it  must  learn  to  put  them  together,  first 
in  short  words  or  syllables,  and  afterwards  in  longer  words ; 
and  lastly  it  must  learn  to  put  the  words  together,  and  to 
read  them  as  they  follow  one  another  in  the  book.  The 
same  holds  of  everything  else  that  is  practical :  whatever  it 
may  be,  it  must  be  learned  by  practice.  It  is  not  by  hear- 
ing or  reading  about  making  shoes,  that  a  man  becomes  a 
shoemaker,  but  by  trying  to  make  them.  Above  all  is  this 
true  of  that  which  is  the  most  practical  of  all  things,  the 
religion  of  Christ.  I  call  it  the  most  practical  of  all  things, 
because  it  is  meant  to  be  the  rule  and  guide  of  our  practice, 
not  merely  at  certain  moments,  when  we  are  engaged  in 
any  one  particular  employment,  but  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places ;  because  it  ought  to  be  the  source  and  spring  and 
mould  and  rule  of  all  our  thoughts  and  words  and  deeds. 
Or  can  you  suppose  that  the  service  of  the  God  of  heaven 
is  so  much  easier  a  task  than  every  other,  that,  while  every 
other  thing  we  want  to  do  must  be  learned  slowly  and 
laboriously  and  practically,  the  doing  the  will  of  God  will 
come  to  us  naturally  and  of  itself  ?  No  :  this  too  must  be 
learnt  by  practice,  by  patient,  diligent,  steadfast  practice. 

But  how,  you  may  ask,  are  we  to  do  the  will  of  God, — 
how  can  we  even  strive  to  do  it, — unless  we  know  before- 
hand what  it  is  ?  The  question  seems  a  very  hard  one  ; 
and  yet  the  answer  is  easy  :  by  faith.  When  a  child  is 
learning  to  read,  it  has  to  read  at  first  without  knowing  how 
to  read.  It  has  to  pronounce  the  letters  and  the  words, 
without  knowing  what  they  are.  It  has  to  pronounce  them 
at  first  after  its  teacher :  by  faith  in  him  it  learns  what  they 
are  ;  and  thus  in  course  of  time  it  gets  to  know  what  they 
are  of  itself.  In  like  manner  God  has  sent  you  spiritual 
teachers, — he  has  sent  you  the  teaching  of  his  word, — to 
tell  you  what  his  will  is,  before  you  can  know  it  for  your- 


THE   WILL   AND    THE    DOCTRINE.  45 

selves.  There  is  no  one, — in  all  England  there  is  no  one 
— among  you  assuredly  there  is  no  one— who,  if  he  will 
but  try  to  make  the  most  of  the  opportunities  God  has 
given  him  of  knowing  his  will,  may  not  attain  in  the  end  to 
the  precious  knowledge  spoken  of  by  our  Lord  in  the  text, 
the  knowledge  that  his  doctrine  is  of  God. 

For  this  knowledge,  like  all  practical  knowledge,  comes 
by  degrees.  Every  slight  improvement  in  practice, — nay, 
every  attempt  at  an  improvement,  will  lead  to  an  increase 
of  our  knowledge  :  while  every  increase  of  our  knowledge 
ought  in  its  turn  to  lead  to  an  improvement  in  our  practice. 
Every  fresh  step  we  take  in  Christianity,  we  see  further  into 
it ;  and  by  seeing  further  into  it  we  learn  in  what  way  we 
are  to  advance  still  further.  The  practice  throws  light  on 
the  wholesomeness  of  the  doctrine :  the  doctrine  on  the 
other  hand  furnishes  new  motives  and  helps  to  the  prac- 
tice :  thus  they  go  on  giving  and  receiving  strength,  each 
from  and  each  to  the  other.  They  are  like  the  warp  and 
woof  in  weaving :  the  doctrine  is  the  warp,  into  which  we 
weave  the  woof :  every  fresh  cast  of  the  shuttle  brings  out 
more  of  the  warp,  until  at  length  the  whole  is  like  Christ's 
coat,  without  seam,  woven  from  the  top  throughout.  Thus 
do  the  knowledge  and  practice  of  a  Christian  meet  and 
unite,  and,  as  it  were,  grow  into  one.  For  what  is  the 
doctrine  of  Christ  ?  that  doctrine  which  St.  Paul,  writing 
to  the  Colossians,  calls  "the  riches  of  the  glory  of  the 
mystery."  It  is,  as  St.  Paul  there  sets  it  forth,  that  God 
"  hath  delivered  us  from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  hath 
translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son,  in  whom 
we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins."  It  is,  that  "  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in 
Christ  Jesus  should  all  fullness  dwell ;  and,  having  made 
peace  through  the  blood  of  his  cross,  by  him  to  reconcile  all 
things  to  himself:  and  us  too,  that  were  sometimes  alienated 


46  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

and  enemies  in  our  minds  by  wicked  works,  hath  he  recon- 
ciled in  the  body  of  his  flesh  through  death,  to  present  us 
holy  and  unblamable  and  unreprovable  in  his  sight,  if  we 
continue  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and  be  not 
moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  Gospel."    In  other  words, 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  is  that  all  men  are  sinners, — that  all 
by  their  sins  have  offended  the  holiness  of  God,  and  have 
fallen  under  his  wrath, — but  that  he,  the  eternal  Son  of  God, 
came  down  from  his  throne  in  the  heavens,  to  be  a  sacrifice 
for  our  sins,  and  to  restore  us  to  his  Father's  love.     Now 
how  can  any  one  have  any  real  and  lively  knowledge  of 
this  doctrine,  unless  he  has  set  himself  in  earnest  to  do  the 
will  of  God  ?     A  minister  once  told  me,  that  a  sick  man, 
whom  he  had  attended,  on  being  asked  what  he  rested  his 
hopes  on,  replied  that  he  believed  he  had  always  led  a 
regular  decent  good  life.    On  this  the  minister  said  :  "  That 
may  be  very  well  as  far  as  it  goes  :  but,  in  speaking  of  your 
hope  of  acceptance  with  God,  have  you  nothing  to  say  of 
Jesus  Christ?"     "Yes!  (answered  the  sick  man,)  I  think 
he  must  have  something  to  do  with  it."     Something  to  do 
with  it !     Was  this  knowing  the  doctrine  ?     Is  this  like  St. 
Paul's  way  of  speaking,  when  he  calls  it  "  the  riches  of  the 
glory  of  the  mystery?"      But  how  came  it  that  this  poor 
man  had  so  scanty  and  faint  a  sense  of  what  Christ  had 
done  for  us  ?     The  reason  plainly  was,  that  he  trusted  in 
his  regular  decent  life  :  he  thought  himself  safe  enough  with 
that,  and  did  not  trouble  his  head  about  anything  beyond. 
Let  me  now  go  a  step  further,  and  ask  :  how  came  he  to 
trust  in  his  regular  life  ?    Why,  because  he  had  never  set 
himself  seriously  to  do  the  will  of  God :  therefore  he  had 
never  gained  a  practical  insight  into  his  own  sinfulness  and 
weakness.      He  measured  himself  not  by  God's  pure  and 
holy  law,  but  by   the   low  and  deceitful  standard  of  the 
world :  so  he  was  satisfied  with  himself,  and  had  no  feeling 


THE    WILL   AND   THE    DOCTRINE.  47 


of  his  want  of  a  Saviour.  Here  is  a  case  of  a  man  failing 
to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  Christ's  saving  doctrine,  because 
he  had  never  made  it  his  business  to  do  God's  holy  will, 
I  fear  too,  the  case  is  a  very  common  one,  even  among 
those  who  call  themselves  by  the  name  of  Christ,  and  who 
have  read  their  Bible  and  come  to  church  all  their  lives. 

Not  that  I  mean  to  speak  slightingly  of  reading  the  Bible. 
I  have  so  often  exhorted  you  to  study  it,  you  cannot  sup- 
pose I  mean  that.  Let  every  man  know  as  much  of  the 
Bible  as  he  can  :  no  one  can  know  too  much  of  it.  But 
then  you  must  study  it  with  a  view  to  become  better  •  you 
must  take  pains  that  your  advance  in  doing  the  will  of  God 
may  keep  pace  with  your  advance  in  knowing  it.  This  is 
the  right  way  of  studying  the  Bible,  and  the  right  use  to  put 
it  to.  Any  knowledge  of  God's  will  and  of  God's  love  but 
this  will  be  useless  to  you :  and  not  only  will  it  be  useless 
knowledge,  it  will  also  be  imperfect  knowledge.  A  true,  a 
thorough,  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  can  only  be 
gained  by  practice.  And  a  blessed  thing  it  is  for  you,  my 
people,  that  God  has  ordained  it  so  to  be.  If  head-know- 
ledge, as  it  is  called,  had  been  the  high-road  to  heaven,  what 
would  have  become  of  the  poor,  who  have  so  little  time  for 
study?  But  God  in  his  grace  has  appointed  another  way 
for  his  people  to  learn  how  to  serve  him :  and  it  is  a  way 
which  the  poor  and  simple,  who  have  been  taught  the  first 
principles  of  their  duty,  may  travel  along  as  easily  and  safely 
as  the  rich  and  learned.  He  has  made  religion  a  practical 
matter,  to  be  learnt  and  perfected  in  every  deed  we  do,  in 
every  word  we  speak,  in  every  wish  and  thought  of  our 
hearts.  Let  none  say  he  has  no  time  to  learn  to  be  a 
Christian,  if  he  has  time  to  live  and  breathe.  Have  any  of 
you  things  to  vex  you  ?  That  is  the  way  God  has  appointed 
to  teach  his  people  patience.  Is  any  one  enjoying  an  abun- 
dance of  good  things  ?     They  are  given  to  train  us  in  tern- 


48  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

perance,  and  in  bounteousness,  and  in  relieving  the  wants 
of  others.  Are  some  in  poverty?  It  is  a  lesson  of  self- 
denial  and  contentedness.  So  whatever  may  betide  you, 
be  it  sorrowful  or  be  it  joyful,  I  would  have  you  think  that 
it  was  sent  you  to  teach  and  exercise  you  in  such  a  grace. 
or  to  warn  you  from  such  a  sin.  Thus  will  you  be  learning 
Christianity  practically.  Thus,  by  carefully  striving  to  do 
the  will  of  God  5  v/ill  you  be  brought  to  the  most  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  doctrine.  Thus  the  tree  of  the  Gospel 
will  indeed  be  a  tree  of  Hfe  to  you,  when  you  have  planted 
a  slip  of  it  in  your  hearts. 

But  will  the  tree  of  the  Gospel  take  root  then  in  man's 
natural,  unturned,  uncultivated  heart?  You  might  as  well 
throw  an  acorn  on  a  rock,  and  expect  to  see  it  grow  up  an 
oak.  Our  hearts  are  stony  :  and  they  must  be  broken  up. 
They  have  no  depth  of  soil ;  and  new  soil  must  be  brought 
to  them.  We  must  do  as  gardeners  do  :  we  must  make  a 
new  and  richer  soil  to  receive  the  new  plant ;  else  it  will 
never  thrive  in  us.  Our  hearts  are  lying  under  the  curse  : 
they  bring  forth  only  thistles  and  briers  :  and  we  must  endea- 
vour to  purge  them  from  all  such  weeds,  and  to  fit  them  for 
the  knowledge  of  the  doctrine,  by  trying  to  do  the  will  of 
God. 

Some  however  will  perhaps  ask  me  :  Can  we  then  do  the 
will  of  God  ?  No,  my  brethren  :  of  ourselves  assuredly  we 
cannot.  Therefore  Christ  does  not  say.  He  that  doeth  the 
will  shall  know  :  for  that  would  be  like  saying,  He  that  flies 
up  into  the  clouds  shall  know.  What  Christ  says  is,  that  he 
who  willeth  or  desireth  to  do  the  will, — for  this  is  the  true 
meaning  of  the  passage, — he  who  earnestly  wishes  and  strives 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  shall  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  the 
doctrine.  How  ?  By  doing  it  ?  No  :  but  by  finding  that 
he  cannot  do  it :  by  having  his  eyes  opened  to  the  true  state 
of  his  soul,  to  its  weakness,  its  helplessness,  its  sinfulness. 


THE   WILL   AND   THE    DOCTRINE.  49 

This  knowledge  is  the  very  thing  that  a  man  needs,  to  bring 
him  to  embrace  the  Gospel  with  all  his  heart,  so  as  to  put 
his  whole  faith  and  trust  in  it.  In  other  words,  this  is  the 
same  truth  which  St.  Paul  declares,  when  he  tells  us  that 
the  law  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ.  That 
is  to  say,  the  knowledge  of  the  obedience  which  God  requires 
of  us,  as  set  forth  in  the  law  of  Moses, — the  conviction  that 
we  ought  to  pay  him  that  obedience, — the  feeling  that  we 
neither  do  nor  can  pay  it, — these  are  the  very  things  to  wake 
a  man  out  of  the  dream  of  his  own  merits,  and  to  tutor  and 
prepare  him  for  receiving  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins  and 
eternal  life  as  a  free  gift  from  God  through  Jesus  Christ.  In 
the  first  dangerous  illness  I  had  after  I  was  grown  up,  I  was 
forced  to  keep  my  bed  for  a  week  or  more.  While  I  did  so, 
I  was  not  aware  how  feeble  I  had  become.  But  when  I 
tried  to  get  up,  and  could  not  so  much  as  jout  on  my  clothes 
without  help,  I  found  out  my  own  weakness.  Just  so  it  is 
with  the  sinner.  So  long  as  he  is  sick  unto  death,  so  long 
as  he  lies  dead  and  almost  buried  in  his  sins,  so  long  does 
he  continue  in  ignorance  of  his  true  state.  He  dreams  in 
his  heart,  "  There  is  not  much  the  matter  with  me ;  I  shall 
easily  get  well,  and  have  little  need  of  a  physician."  Thus 
he  dreams,  till  God  sends  something  to  rouse  him  from  his 
deadly  slumber.  Some  great  disappointment  teaches  him 
the  vanity  of  all  earthly  plans :  or  some  affliction  pierces 
and  startles  him.  The  man  opens  his  eyes,  and  sees  the 
wrath  of  God  hanging  like  a  drawn  sword  over  him.  In  his 
fright  he  perhaps  tries  to  get  up.  Get  up  !  He  can  no  more 
get  up,  and  quit  his  evil  habits,  than  I  could  get  up  from  my 
sick-bed  after  my  illnessc  Back  he  falls,  after  finding  out 
his  own  weakness,  which  before  he  had  no  suspicion  of; 
and  there  he  lies,  in  the  wickedness  which  he  is  now  con- 
scious and  afraid  of,  but  which  he  feels  he  has  not  strength 
to  forsake.     Meanwhile  the  wrath  of  God  is  still  hanging 


50  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

over  his  head,   and   seems  to   be   drawing  nearer  every 
moment. 

To  a  sinner  in  this  state  of  conscious  guilt  and  feebleness 
the  Gospel  is  indeed  a  blessing.  For  what  does  it  shew 
him?  It  shews  him  Jesus  Christ  stepping  between,  to 
shield  him  from  the  wrath  of  God,  and  receiving  the  blow 
into  his  own  heart.  And  when,  in  his  astonishment  at  so 
unlooked-for  a  deliverance,  he  cries  to  his  unknown  Saviour, 
— "  Who  art  thou,  thus  to  take  on  thyself  the  punishment 
which  I  have  so  richly  deserved?" — how  must  his  heart 
beat  on  hearing  this  affectionate  rebuke !  "I  am  Jesus, 
whom  thou  hast  persecuted  all  thy  life  long.  Thou  wast 
enrolled  among  my  servants  in  thine  infancy,  and  didst 
receive  my  mark,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  on  thy  forehead. 
But  when  thou  grewest  up,  thou  desertedst  me.  Thou 
hast  broken  my  laws  :  thou  hast  neglected  me  :  thou  hast 
set  thy  heart  on  the  things  which  I  have  forbidden.  Thou 
hast  robbed  my  heavenly  Father  and  me  of  the  honour  and 
love  which  thou  owedst  us.  Instead  of  serving  God  and 
me,  thou  hast  been  serving  sin  and  Satan.  For  all  these 
offences  of  thine,  my  only  revenge  is  dying  to  save  thee. 
I  have  died,  that  thou,  and  every  other  sinner,  who  will 
only  hearken  and  turn  to  me,  may  live.  Take  thy  life, 
which  I  have  bought  so  dearly.  Arise ;  renounce  thy  sins, 
betake  thyself  to  repentance  and  holiness  ;  and  live."  Such 
is  the  language  which  Jesus  Christ  in  his  gospel  speaks  to 
the  awakened  sinner.  And  would  not  words  thus  touching 
go  straight  to  the  heart  of  a  man  who  finds  himself  in  the 
state  I  have  been  describing  ?  To  your  hearts,  it  may  be, 
they  do  not  go.  Why  ?  Because  you  are  still  asleep  ; 
because  you  have  not  yet  begun  to  try  to  do  the  will  ot 
God  :  hence  your  sinfulness  and  weakness  are  still  unknown 
to  you.  But  put  yourselves  in  the  place  of  the  man  I  have 
been  speaking  of :  picture  to  yourselves  the  wrath  of  God 


THE   WILL   AND   THE    DOCTRINE.  51 

ready  to  fall  on  you  for  your  misdeeds.  I  need  not  tell  you 
that  there  it  is,  hanging  over  every  sinner,  whether  he  sees 
it  or  no,  and  that  "  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind 
him  to  powder."  (Matt.  xxi.  44.)  Suppose  then  that  your 
eyes  were  opened,  and  that  you  saw  it  there  over  your 
heads,  would  not  the  offer  of  pardon  for  Christ's  sake  at 
once  become  the  very  best  news  I  could  bring  you  ? 
Would  not  the  great  truth,  that  Christ  died  for  us,  come 
home  to  your  heart  and  soul  with  quite  another  force,  if 
you  could  behold  him  receiving  the  blow  in  your  place,  and 
drawing  off  the  lightning  on  his  own  head  ?  Would  not 
this  make  you  feel  the  meaning  of  those  blessed  words, — 
Christ  has  died  for  me?  Surely  these  things  must  needs 
move  you,  were  you  to  see  them.  But  the  conscience  of 
the  awakened  sinner  does  see  them :  therefore  they  move 
and  shake  him  to  the  bottom  of  his  stony  heart.  The 
Scripture  says,  "If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if  he 
thirst,  give  him  drink  :  for  in  so  doing  thou  shalt  heap  coals 
of  fire  on  his  head."  (Rom.  xii.  20.)  This  is  just  the  way 
in  which  our  Saviour  tries  to  work  upon  the  sinner.  As 
soon  as  he  has  come  to  himself,  so  as  to  be  awake  to  his 
own  danger,  Christ  appears  to  him,  and  shews  him  his 
hands  and  his  side,  and  says  to  him,  "  I  have  paid  all." 
Does  not  this  heap  coals  of  fire  on  the  sinner's  head  ? 
Does  not  this  bow  him  down  to  the  very  dust  in  shame  and 
sorrow,  that  he  should  have  been  so  ungrateful  and  re- 
bellious against  his  best  friend  and  only  Saviour?  Does 
not  this  open  his  eyes  also,  to  see  the  hatefulness  of  sin  ? 
Before,  he  had  thought  but  lightly  of  it.  Now  however  the 
guilt  of  sin  stares  him  in  the  face.  Turn  where  he  will,  he 
sees  it  ever  before  him,  written  in  the  blood  of  the  Son  of 
God.  Such  is  the  manner  in  which  the  first  great  doctrine 
of  Christianity,  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  by  the  sacri- 
fice and  death  of  Christ,  v^^orks  on  the  heart  and  soul  of  the 


52  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

sinner,  when  he  begins  to  feel  an  earnest  wish  to  do  the  will 
of  God.  And  can  he,  after  thus  feeling  the  power  of  the 
doctrine, — can  he  doubt  whether  it  comes  from  God  ?  He 
carries  the  proof  that  it  does  so  within  him,  in  his  grateful 
sense  of  God's  goodness,  and  in  his  longing  thus  kindled 
in  his  heart  to  lead  a  more  godly  life. 

But  how  is  this  longing  to  be  satisfied?  In  my  illness,  as 
soon  as  I  found  out  my  weakness,  I  began  wishing  that  I 
was  a  little  stronger.  But  my  wishes  did  not  make  me 
stronger  :  and  when  I  first  tried  to  walk  across  the  room, 
in  spite  of  all  my  wishes  I  should  have  fallen  if  I  had  not 
had  a  friendly  arm  to  hold  me  up.  So  is  it  with  the  sinner. 
Christ  has  saved  him  from  punishment,  and  in  so  doing  has 
suppHed  the  first  and  most  grievous  of  his  wants.  But  he 
has  still  another  very  great  and  very  pressing  want.  He 
wants  the  strength  to  lift  him  up  from  his  evil  habits  to 
a  life  of  holiness  and  obedience.  He  cannot  lift  himself 
up  ;  and  Christ  as  yet  has  not  done  this  for  him.  He  has 
said  to  him,  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee  :  but  he  has  not  yet 
completed  the  work  of  mercy  :  he  has  not  yet  said  to  him, 
Arise  and  walk.  It  is  here,  in  this  hour  of  conscious  feeble- 
ness, when  the  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak,  that 
the  other  great  doctrine  of  our  faith  steps  in :  I  mean,  the 
help  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  man  begins  to  see  that  he  has 
a  new  strength  put  into  him,  in  addition  to  his  own,  and  far 
beyond  it.  He  finds  that  he  can  do  to-day  what  he  was 
unable  to  do  yesterday.  At  first  perhaps  this  may  puff  him 
up  somewhat;  and,  as  a  sick  man,  on  gaining  a  little 
strength,  is  apt  to  fancy  he  shall  be  quite  well  in  a  few 
days ;  so  the  sinner,  when  he  has  been  enabled  to  with- 
stand a  temptation  or  two,  may  perhaps  fancy  that  he  is 
already  become  a  master  in  holiness.  But  he  is  soon  cured 
of  this  mistake.  The  Spirit  of  God  withdraws,  and  leaves 
him  to  himself;   and  all  his  former  weakness  comes  back 


THE   WILL   AND   THE    DOCTRINE.  53 

upon  him.  Then  in  his  distress  does  he  call  upon  the 
Lord,  and  cry  to  his  God  ;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  returns  to 
him,  and  again  takes  him  by  the  hand,  and  lifts  him  up,  and 
enables  him  to  walk  safely.  This  goes  on  time  after  time, 
until  his  experience  at  length  convinces  him  that  so  long  as 
he  trusts  wholly  to  God,  he  is  borne  up  along  the  path  of 
righteousness ;  but  that,  the  moment  he  tries  to  walk  by  his 
own  strength,  his  feet  slip  under  him,  and  he  falls.  Thus 
we  have  the  other  great  doctrine  of  Christianity  brought 
home  to  a  man's  heart,  by  his  striving  to  do  the  will  of 
God.  He  can  now  say  of  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  he  before  said  of  forgiveness  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
I  know  that  the  doctrine  comes  from  God. 

Now  can  you  think  it  possible,  my  brethren,  when  a 
person  has  been  thus  thoroughly  convinced  by  his  own 
experience  of  the  truth  of  these  two  great  doctrines,  that 
any  arguments  of  the  most  subtle  man  in  the  world  should 
shake  his  faith  in  them  ?  It  cannot  be.  A  mere  nominal 
Christian  indeed  may  easily  have  his  belief  in  these  doctrines 
shaken,  if  not  overthrown  :  because  to  him  they  are  only 
words,  to  which  he  attaches  no  living  meaning.  But  once 
make  a  man  feel  the  power  of  the  doctrines, — let  him  have 
been  healed  by  the  balm  of  Christ's  blood,  let  him  have 
leant  his  frail  resolutions  on  the  arm  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — 
what  can  shake  his  faith  in  them  then  ?  He  has  the  witness 
of  their  truth  in  himself.  He  knows  it  on  the  strength  of 
the  blessings  he  himself  has  derived  from  them.  Therefore 
all  the  arguments  in  the  world  can  no  more  make  his  faith 
in  them  waver,  than  the  arguments  of  a  blind  man,  however 
hard  to  shake  off,  would  persuade  you  that  you  do  not  see. 
This  is  what  our  Saviour  calls  knowing  the  doctrine.  It 
is  the  true  way  of  knowing  religious  truth :  and  whereas 
St.  Paul  says  of  the  vain-glorious  knowledge  and  false 
philosophy  of  the  Corinthians,  that  it  shall  vanish  away,  the 


54  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

knowledge  I  am  speaking  of, — the  humble  practical  heart- 
knowledge  of  the  great  things  which  the  Son  and  Spirit  of 
God  have  done  and  are  still  doing  for  our  souls, — this  know- 
ledge shall  never  fail,  but  shall  go  on  increasing  for  ever. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  is  equally 
true  of  the  means  of  grace  by  which  those  doctrines  are 
brought  home  to  us.  Their  value  to  the  soul  can  only  be 
learnt  practically,  from  our  own  experience.  Would  you 
know  the  blessing  of  prayer  ?  Pray.  Would  you  know  the 
blessing  of  God's  word  ?  Study  it.  But  you  must  pray  with 
your  heart,  study  with  your  heart,  with  an  earnest  wish  to 
know  God's  will,  and  to  do  it.  The  man  who  comes  to 
church,  and  yawms  through  the  service, — the  man  who  reads 
his  chapter  in  the  New  Testament  as  a  task  on  a  Sunday 
evening, — can  never  have  a  notion  what  a  delight  and  high 
privilege  it  is  to  the  Christian  to  pray,  or  what  exceeding 
light  and  comfort  the  Christian  draws  from  the  Scriptures. 
As  for  prayer,  the  nominal  Christian  probably  does  not 
know  what  praying  is.  He  has  heard  that  he  ought  to  say 
his  prayers ;  and  so  he  says  them  now  and  then :  and  he 
mostly  finds  it  a  wearisome  unprofitable  ceremony.  But 
saying  prayers  is  no  more  praying,  than  a  corpse  is  a  living 
man.  Would  a  creature  that  had  only  seen  a  corpse,  be 
able  to  make  out  from  it  what  a  living  man  is  ?  No  more 
can  a  person,  who  is  only  accustomed  to  say  his  prayers 
with  his  lips,  conceive  the  life  and  power  of  a  prayer  which 
bursts  forth  from  a  beseeching  heart.  To  know  what  pray- 
ing is,  a  man  must  begin  by  praying  himself :  and  the  more 
earnestly  he  prays,  the  more  ^vill  he  learn  to  prize  the  ines- 
timable blessing  God  has  given  us  in  allowing  us  to  speak 
to  him  in  prayer.  In  like  manner  is  it  with  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  Those  who  read  the  Bible  as  a  mere  form,  may 
think  that  many  other  books  are  more  entertaining.  Those 
who  read  it  with  no  view  beyond  the  knowledge  they  wish 


THE   WILL   AND   THE    DOCTRINE.  55 

to  gain  from  it,  may  even  fancy  that  there  are  other  books 
still  more  instructive.  But  they  who  read  it  for  the  sake  of 
doing  the  will  of  God,  will  see  God's  will  written  in  every 
page  of  it*  Every  page  will  yield  them  consolation  :  every 
page  will  be  a  lantern  to  their  steps. 

But  it  is  above  all  with  regard  to  the  promises  and  higher 
graces  of  Christianity,  that  this  practical  knowledge  is 
required.  The  peace  of  God,  as  you  hear  every  Sunday, 
passeth  all  understanding :  that  is  to  say,  the  mere  natural 
man  cannot  understand  it,  cannot  frame  any  notion  of  it. 
Learning  cannot  teach  it  him.  To  know  what  it  is,  we  must 
feel  it.  To  the  children  of  this  world  it  is  as  sound  to  the 
deaf :  to  those  whose  religion  is  a  mere  form,  it  is  as  music 
to  a  man  who  has  no  ear.  But  the  children  of  God  have 
an  ear  for  it ;  so  that  it  finds  an  answer  within  them,  and 
tunes  all  the  strings  of  their  hearts.  The  happiness  it 
bestows  is  such  as  nothing  on  earth  can  give,  such  as  nothing 
on  earth  can  overthrow.  Only  look  at  the  glowing  expres- 
sions of  that  happiness,  which  are  strewn  so  richly  through 
the  epistles  of  St.  Paul.  Only  read  the  beautiful  letter  to 
the  Philippians,  which  he  wrote  when  in  bonds  and  in  peril 
of  his  life.  The  peace  of  God  breathes  through  it.  His  very 
dangers  seem  to  make  him  more  joyful,  more  triumphant,  as 
if  he  was  already  at  the  gates  of  heaven.  ' '  Every  way  (he  says) 
Christ  is  preached;  and  I  therein  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  re- 
joice. Yea,  and  if  I  be  offered  up  on  the  sacrifice  and  service 
of  your  faith,  I  joy  and  rejoice  with  you  all."  Do  ye  desire, 
brethren,  to  feel  this  joy,  that  nothing  can  trouble?  You  must 
begin  by  doing  the  will  of  God.  You  must  begin,  as  St.  Paul 
exhorts  the  Philippians,  by  working  out  your  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling :  and  after  you  have  done  this  faithfully  and 
steadfastly,  you  may  perhaps  hear  him  calling  to  you,  as  he 
called  to  them,  "Rejoice  in  the  Lord  ahvay ;  and  again  I 
say,  Rejoice." 


FAITH. 

Hebrews  xi.  i. 
Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for. 

/^F  all  God's  gifts  to  man  the  most  comforting  and 
^^  strengthening  is  faith.  "How can  that  be?"  methinks 
I  hear  some  of  you  asking.  "  when  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  tells  us  so  plainly  that  charity  is  greater 
than  faith."  If  what  I  have  just  said  be  true,  if  faith  be 
indeed  the  most  strengthening  and  the  most  comforting  gift 
we  can  receive,  it  may  seem  a  hard  saying  that  even  charity, 
or  love,  should  be  better  than  faith.  Can  anything  be 
better  than  that  which  strengthens  us  and  comforts  us  ?  I 
will  answer  this  question  by  asking  one.  Can  anything  be 
better  than  that  which  gives  health?  Yes  surely :  health  itself 
is  better  than  that  which  gives  health.  So  is  strength  itself 
better  than  that  which  strengthens.  But  faith  is  only  that 
which  strengthens.  Charity  or  love  is  strength  itself.  The 
latter  is  the  offspring  of  the  former,  the  sweetest  and  most 
pleasant  fruit  that  the  tree  of  faith  bears.  Could  love  be 
separated  from  faith  it  would  be  no  better  than  a  windfall. 
But  true  love  cannot :  whether  it  be  toward  God,  or  toward 
our  brother.  Nay,  so  closely  are  they  bound  together,  that, 
as  faith  begets  love,  love  in  its  turn  fosters  faith.     It  is  so 


FAITH. 


57 


even  in  our  earthly  affections.  What  should  we  say  of  that 
love,  whether  of  a  friend  for  a  friend,  of  a  child  for  a 
parent,  or  of  husband  for  a  wife,  which  did  not  begin  in 
confidence,  and  end  in  confidence  ?  Surely  we  should  all 
say  that  it  did  not  deserve  the  name  of  love ;  that  it  was 
suspicion,  that  it  was  jealousy,  that  it  was  doubt,  and  that 
these  are  all  of  them  things  most  alien  and  contrary  to 
love.  This  is  the  sentence  we  should  pass  on  such  distrust 
and  want  of  confidence  between  man  and  man  ;  and  is 
there  less  ground  for  our  faith,  less  assurance  for  our  trust, 
when  the  parties  are  man  and  God  ?  God  is  our  Father  ; 
Christ  has  called  us  friends  :  our  Lord  has  espoused  the 
Church,  and  united  her  to  him  in  a  mystical  bond  which  is 
never  to  be  loosed.  Friend,  husband,  father, — all  the  seeds 
of  trust  and  love  are  here.  Let  them  sink  deep  into  your 
hearts,  brethren;  and  pray  earnestly  to  God,  who  giveth 
the  increase,  and  sendeth  his  rain  to  make  the  earth  fruitful, 
beseeching  him  to  pour  down  his  Holy  Spirit  upon  you, 
that  the  good  seed  may  take  root  in  you,  and  may  bring 
forth  a  rich  spiritual  harvest  of  holy  thoughts  and  heavenly 
desires,  of  meekness,  gentleness,  humility,  patience,  and  godly 
perseverance  in  all  the  works  and  offices  of  love. 

This  love,  as  I  have  already  said,  must  spring  from  faith ; 
and  by  faith  must  be  continually  fed.  It  is  chiefly  from 
bearing  so  excellent  a  fruit,  that  the  tree  is  such  a  precious 
gift  to  man.  Still  it  does  bear  that  fruit :  and  as  there  must 
be  a  tree  to  gather  the  fruit  from,  before  we  can  hope  to  gather 
fruit,  so  must  faith  have  grown  up  and  blossomed  within  us, 
before  we  can  cool  our  dry  and  feverish  natures  with  love  and 
the  other  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  In  this  sense,  as  the  only  true 
parent  of  the  other  christian  graces,  is  faith  so  highly  spoken 
of  in  the  New  Testament,  where  it  is  said  by  St.  Peter  "  to 
purify  the  heart,"  by  St.  Paul  "  to  work  righteousness,"  and 
by  St.  John  to  be  "  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world." 


58  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

What,  then,  is  this  faith  ?  Not  this  hypocritical  show  of 
faith  reproved  by  St.  James.  That  is  only  an  outward  lying 
mockery  of  faith,  and  no  more  faith  itself,  than  crocodile's 
tears,  as  they  are  called,  are  the  true  sorrow  of  the  heart,  no 
more  than  the  wolves  our  Lord  speaks  of  became  real  sheep 
by  putting  on  sheep's  clothing.  The  faith  which  God 
approves  is  not  feigned  but  true.  It  springs  sometimes  in 
the  head,  oftener  in  the  heart,  but  in  each  case  flows  on  till 
it  has  filled  both.  For  it  is  such  a  hearty  belief  in  God  and 
in  his  Son,  such  a  steadfast  conviction  of  the  truth  of  all  that 
he  has  taught  us  in  the  Bible,  as  mixes  itself  up  with  our 
whole  life,  spreading,  like  a  finer  leaven,  through  every  part 
of  our  nature,  and  leavening  what  before  was  hard  and 
heavy,  until  we  become  like  the  shewbread  of  which  we 
read  in  the  law  of  Moses,  fit,  when  we  have  been  hallowed 
by  the  incense  of  prayer,  to  be  brought  to  God's  holy 
table. 

This  is  what  the  apostle  means,  when  he  calls  faith  "  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for."  In  like  manner  it  might  be 
called  the  substance  of  things  feared.  For  what  is  a  sub- 
stance ?  A  thing  of  the  reality  of  which  we  can  fully  satisfy 
ourselves ;  a  thing  we  can  see,  and  feel,  and  handle,  so  as 
to  convince  ourselves  by  these  and  the  like  methods,  that  it 
is  a  real  thing,  and  not  a  shadow.  Hence  you  may  easily 
see  how  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for  or  feared. 
It  gives  them  a  substance,  by  bringing  God's  promises  and 
threatenings  home  to  our  hearts,  and  keeping  them  before 
our  minds,  and  making  us  feel  their  truth.  When  faith 
reaches  this  strong  growth,  it  is  sure  to  do  its  right  work,  in 
holding  us  back  from  evil,  and  spurring  us  on  to  good.  It 
is  quite  sure  to  do  this  :  because  God  has  so  fashioned  us, 
has  so  made  the  desires  of  our  hearts  shape  themselves 
according  to  the  full  convictions  of  our  understandings,  that 
no  man  in  possession  of  his  senses  will  either  wish  for  what 


FAITH.  59 


he  knows  to  be  utterly  impossible,  or  try  what  he  is  quite 
sure  will  do  him  much  more  harm  than  good.  Infants  will 
often  stretch  out  their  Httle  hands  and  catch  at  a  flame. 
Why  do  grown-up  people  never  put  their  hands  into  it? 
Because  we  know  the  certain  consequence  ot  meddling  with 
fire,  which  an  infant  does  not.  We  have  felt  the  pain  ot  burn- 
ing, and  are  afraid  of  it :  and  so  the  thought  of  playing  with 
the  beautiful  flame  never  crosses  us.  My  brethren,  hell  is 
hotter  than  any  earthly  fire  :  why  then  are  we  not  afraid  of 
playing  with  it?  Plainly,  because  we  do  not  thoroughly 
believe  what  our  Lord  has  said  and  threatened  ;  because  we 
think  that  it  is  possible  to  serve  two  masters,  though  Christ 
has  told  us  that  it  is  not :  because  we  still  listen  to  the 
whispers  of  the  serpent,  and  flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall 
not  surely  die. 

Moreover,  as  a  hearty  belief  in  the  threatenings  of  the 
Bible  would  scare  men  from  all  sin,  so  would  a  hearty  belief 
in  its  glorious  promises  stir  them  up  to  all  goodness.  For 
as  the  proper  business  of  man  in  this  world  is  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  faith,  which  is  a  man's  proper  principle,  is  a  stirring, 
active  principle.  Look  at  the  power  which  a  strong  per- 
suasion and  beUef  has  in  the  affairs  of  this  world ;  and  you 
may  judge  what  ought  to  be  its  power  in  the  affairs  of 
heaven  and  of  eternity.  Only  give  a  man  good  grounds  for 
believing  that  he  will  make  a  great  fortune  by  going  to 
India ;  he  will  leave  his  home,  and  cross  the  seas,  and  bear 
all  manner  of  hardships,  and  expose  himself  to  the  dangerous 
diseases  common  in  hot  climates  :  he  would  do  all  this  readily 
and  cheerfully  :  and  though  he  should  fail  once  and  again,  he 
will  persevere  until  at  last  he  succeeds.  Now  were  any  one 
to  ask  this  man  why  he  runs  into  all  these  toils  and  perils, 
what  would  be  his  answer?  '' I  do  all  this  because  I 
believe  that  I  shall  grow  very  rich  thereby."  Our  Lord, 
you  remember,  compares  his  kingdom  to  a  merchant,  who, 


6o  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

when  he  had  found  a  pearl  of  great  price,  went  and  sold  all 
that  he  had,  and  bought  it.  Men  will  do  this  for  the  sake 
of  obtaining  a  pearl.  They  will  do  thus  much  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  a  thing  that  they  truly  believe  to  be  desirable  and 
precious.  Should  not  we  then,  if  our  faith  were  as  strong  as 
the  faith  of  the  children  of  this  world, — if  we  as  thoroughly 
believed  that  joys  and  glories,  greater  than  we  can  ask  or 
conceive,  are  stored  up  in  heaven  for  such  as  are  diligent 
in  fulfilling  their  duty  to  God  and  their  neighbour, — should 
not  we,  if  we  really  believed  this,  do  as  much  to  obtain  this 
happiness  as  the  merchant  to  get  his  pearl  ?  He,  we  read, 
*'sold  all  that  he  had."  Which  of  us  has  ever  done  as 
much,  or  half  as  much,  or  a  tenth  part  as  much,  for  the  sake 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  Alas  !  it  is  still  as  it  was  in  our 
Lord's  days :  the  children  of  this  world  are  still  wiser  in 
their  generation  than  the  children  of  light.  We  profess  to 
believe  that  treasures  in  heaven  are  far  better  than  treasures 
on  earth.  Were  any  one  to  ask  us,  we  should  say,  that 
there  is  not  the  slightest  comparison  between  them.  Yet 
for  the  latter,  which  we  declare  to  be  of  Httle  worth,  we 
labour  from  morning  to  night ;  while  we  leave  the  former, 
though  above  all  worth,  to  take  their  chance.  Does  not 
this  prove  that  our  faith  is  only  lii>deep,  a  string  of  words, 
and  nothing  more, — that  things  hoped  for  have  no  substance 
in  our  eyes, — that  we  do  not  heartily  believe  heaven  to  be 
worth  so  very  much,  or  that  there  will  be  any  great  difficulty 
in  getting  there  ?  We  shall  arrive  there  at  last,  we  flatter 
ourselves,  if  we  live  long  enough.  Meanwhile  there  can  be 
no  great  harm  in  stopping  a  little,  and  idling  a  little,  and 
sleeping  a  little  by  the  way.  But  what  if  we  do  not  live  long 
enough  ?  What  if  the  night  of  death,  when  no  work  can  be 
done,  overtake  us  in  the  middle  of  our  journey  ?  What  if  a 
storm  break  over  us  ?  Where  shall  we  take  refuge  ?  where 
shelter  ourselves  from  the  wrath  of  God  ? 


FAITH.  6 1 


My  brethren,  would  you  think  thus  lightly,  thus  carelessly 
of  heaven,  if  you,  hke  St.  John,  had  seen  the  holy  city 
coming  down  from  God  ?  if  you  had  heard  the  great  voice 
saying,  "  There  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor 
crying ;  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain  :  behold,  the 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men ;  and  he  will  dwell  with 
them  ;  and  they  shall  be  his  people ;  and  God  himself  shall 
be  with  them,  and  be  their  God."  (Rev.  xxi.  3,  4.)  If  you 
had  heard  these  gracious  promises  with  your  bodily  ears,  if 
you  had  seen  this  glorious  city  with  your  bodily  eyes,  would 
you  think  of  loitering  and  dallying  on  the  road  ?  When 
you  read  the  Bible,  if  you  had  but  faith,  you  would  hear  all 
these  things  with  the  ears,  and  see  them  with  the  eyes  of 
faith.  St.  John,  who  heard  and  saw  them,  has  written  them 
in  the  book  of  Revelation  for  our  instruction,  that,  knowing 
what  a  prize  is  set  before  us,  we  may  walk  worthy  of  our 
calling,  and  give  all  diligence  to  make  it  sure. 

Hitherto  I  have  spoken  of  faith  solely  as  it  regards  the 
things  of  eternity.  But  there  is  also  a  faith  which  regards 
the  things  of  this  world.  For  God  is  not  the  God  of  heaven 
only :  he  is  also  the  God  of  earth  :  and  our  belief  in  him 
must  apply  to  our  state  here,  as  fully  and  strongly  as  to  our 
state  hereafter.  We  must  look  up  to  him  as  the  Father  of 
all  mercies,  as  the  giver  of  every  good  we  enjoy  or  hope  for, 
as  our  counsellor  in  doubt,  our  friend  in  need,  our  comfort 
and  support  in  sorrow.  We  must  believe  him  to  be  all 
these  things ;  because  the  Bible  tells  us  that  he  is  so.  If 
we  do  not,  the  plain  truth  is,  we  do  not  believe  the  Bible. 
Are  we  not  told  that  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground 
without  our  heavenly  Father.?  that  the  very  hairs  of  our 
head  are  all  numbered  ?  Are  we  not  commanded  to  make 
all  our  desires  known  to  God  ?  And  can  we  truly  believe 
that  these,  and  numberless  other  Hke  passages,  do  indeed 
come  from  God  ?  yet  at  the  same  time  feel  doubts  about  the 


62  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

events  in  our  own  lives  whether  they  are  ordained  by  God 
or  no?  The  real  Christian  feels  no  such  doubts.  In  all 
that  happens  in  this  world  he  tries  to  discern  the  finger  of 
God.  In  all  that  happens  to  himself,  he  sees  the  dispensa- 
tions of  a  loving  Father, — if  his  lot  be  dark,  his  merciful 
chastenings, — if  bright,  his  gracious  bounty.  This  is  that 
dutiful  trust  or  reliance  in  God,  which  shines  so  in  the 
patriarchs  of  the  Old  Testament,  above  all  in  Abraham,  who 
was  ready  to  offer  up  even  his  son,  his  only  son,  Isaac,  at 
the  Lord's  command.  Therefore  did  he  obtain  the  glorious 
name  of  the  Father  of  the  Faithful.  Would  we  approve 
ourselves  his  children,  we  must  imitate  his  faith,  by  resting 
wholly  on  the  goodness  of  God  as  our  only  staff  and  com- 
forter. For  this  is  faith,  as  shewn  forth  in  the  concerns  of 
this  mortal  life.  It  is  to  trust  in  the  promises  of  God,  when 
sorrow  and  death  are  gathering  round  us.  It  is  to  uphold 
ourselves  in  the  lowest  nakedness  of  poverty,  by  throwing 
ourselves  on  his  fatherly  care.  It  is  to  be  cheerful  in  the 
midst  of  gloom,  to  smile  when  all  around  is  frowning,  to  be 
content  under  the  pressure  of  tribulation,  and  to  feel  that  all 
things  are  working  together  for  our  good  under  the  guidance 
of  all-wise  love.  It  is  to  strengthen  ourselves  in  God  when 
we  are  weakest,  to  beUeve  when  we  see  no  hope,  to  give 
back  all  God's  best  gifts  to  him  without  a  murmur,  parents, 
brothers,  sisters,  friends,  wife,  children,  whenever  he  is 
pleased  to  call  for  them.  All  these  things  are  impossible  to 
the  natural  man :  but  all  things  are  possible  to  faith  :  and 
blessed  are  they  who  have  such  a  faith  as  will  enable  them 
to  work  these  miracles. 

I  will  conclude  by  exhorting  you  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul: 
"  Examine  yourselves,  brethren,  whether  ye  be  in  the  faith ; 
prove  your  own  selves."  (2  Cor.  xiii.  5.)  How  is  this  to  be 
done?  St.  Paul  goes  on  :  "  Know  ye  not  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  in  you,  except  ye  be  reprobates?"     This  is  the  touch- 


FAITH. 


63 


Stone  of  faith.  If  Jesus  Christ  dwells  in  us,  we  are  true 
believers  :  if  he  does  not,  we  have  no  faith.  But  how  shall 
we  know  whether  Christ  dwells  in  us  or  not  ?  St.  Paul  tells 
us  this  also :  "  If  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead,  by 
reason  of  sin  ;  but  the  spirit  h  life,  by  reason  of  righteous- 
ness." (Rom.  viii.  10.)  This  is  the  Christian's  mark,  and 
the  sign  of  a  true  beHever, — a  death  unto  sin,  and  a  living 
unto  righteousness, — a  mortified  body  and  a  quickened 
spirit.*  By  this  we  see  what  we  have  to  trust  to.  For  such 
believers,  and  such  only,  as  bear  this  Christian  mark,  will 
be  acknowledged  by  Christ  to  be  his  servants  and  his 
brethren,  in  that  great  day  when  hope  and  trust  shall  give 
place  to  assurance  and  possession  :  and  when  they  who 
have  been  faithful  in  a  few  things,  that  is,  they  who,  while 
they  lived,  were  full  of  a  sincere,  active,  humble  faith,  shall 
enter  into  the  joy  of  their  Lord. 

*  From  the  conclusion  of  the  Discourse  on  Faith  in  Taylor's  Life  of 
Christ. 


VI. 

THE  GOSPEL  LEAVEN. 

Matt.  xiii.  33. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  hke  unto  leaven,  vi^hich  a  woman 
took,  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal»  till  the  whole  was 
leavened. 

'T'^HERE  are  two  things  we  should  always  keep  in  mind, 
-■"  — what  we  ought  to  be,  and  what  we  are.  In  fixing 
our  eyes  on  what  we  ought  to  be,  we  see  the  good  we 
should  aim  at :  in  looking  at  what  we  are,  Ave  see  the  evil 
we  should  get  rid  of.  If  we  thought  only  of  what  we  ought 
to  be,  we  might  pass  through  life  without  ever  finding  out 
our  own  sinfulness,  and  might  even  fall  into  fancying  that, 
because  we  know  and  approve  what  is  good  and  right,  we 
must  be  good  and  right  ourselves.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
we  kept  our  eyes  only  on  what  we  are,  we  should  grow  so 
accustomed  to  our  sins,  and  to  the  sins  of  those  about  us, 
that  we  should  cease  to  think  of  the  great  guilt  and  danger 
of  such  common  every -day  matters,  and  perhaps  should  get 
almost  to  look  upon  them  as  things  of  course.  A  man  may 
walk  with  his  eyes  bent  on  the  ground,  till  he  grows  double  ; 
a  man  may  live  in  sin,  and  hear  of  sin,  and  look  on  sin,  till 
he  loses  all  sense  of  uprightness.  For  these  reasons  the 
two  things, — what  we  ought  to  be,  and  what  we  are, — should 
often  be  compared  together.     When  this  is  done,  and  they 


THE    GOSPEL    LEAVEN.  65 

are  brought  before  a  man,  and  the  difference  between  them 
is  pointed  out  to  him, — when  the  preacher  says  to  us, 
"  Look  here  !  this  glorious  pattern  of  excellence  is  what 
God  designed  you  to  be  ;  but,  alas  !  that  Httle  puny,  crooked, 
stunted  thing  is  what  you  are," — the  glaring  contrast  between 
what  we  ought  to  be,  and  what  we  are,  may  awaken  even 
the  proudest  and  most  conceited  to  a  sense  of  their  manifold 
imperfections,  and  may  move  them  for  very  shame  to  set 
about  mending  and  improving. 

Now  what  we  ought  to  be,  we  may  learn  from  the  parable 
which  I  have  chosen  for  my  text.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  hke  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  mea- 
sures of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened."  You  all  know 
what  leaven  is,  or  at  least  you  know  what  yeast  is,  which  is 
nearly  the  same  thing.  You  know  too  that,  if  you  want  to 
have  good  bread,  you  must  begin  by  getting  good  yeast,  and 
must  knead  it  up  with  the  flour,  so  that  the  dough  may  rise 
and  become  hght,  instead  of  being  heavy  and  lumpish. 
Now  Jesus  Christ  in  this  parable  tells  us,  that  as  yeast  is 
mixed  up  with  flour,  and  works  its  way  through  every  part 
of  it,  in  order  to  turn  it  into  bread,  in  like  manner  must 
his  Gospel  be  mixed  up  with  the  hearts  of  men,  and  must 
work  through  every  part  of  them,  before  they  can  be  turned 
from  children  of  death  into  what  children  of  life  ought 
to  be.  The  leaven  of  his  word  must  work  in  them,  until 
the  whole  is  leavened, — not  only  their  outward  behaviour, 
but  their  inward  feelings  also, — not  only  their  deeds,  but 
their  words,  and  their  very  thoughts, — and  not  only  those 
feelings  and  thoughts  which  seem  to  belong  more  nearly 
to  religion,  but  all  their  feelings  and  all  their  thoughts. 
Whether  in  church  or  out  of  church,  at  home  or  abroad, 
in  business  or  in  pleasure,  whether  with  his  family,  or 
with  his  servants,  or  with  his  friends, — wherever  the  Chris- 
tian may  be,  and  whatever  he  may  be  about,  the  leaven 

F 


66  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

of  the  Gospel  will  be  living  and  working  in  him.  Whatever 
he  does,  he  will  do  as  unto  God,  always  bearing  in  mind 
tlmt  he  is  God's  child  and  God's  servant.  As  a  good  child, 
and  a  good  servant,  always  keeps  his  father's  or  his  master's 
will  steadily  in  view,  and  endeavours  to  perform  it,  so  does 
the  follower  of  Christ  try  to  follow  Christ  in  doing  the  will 
of  his  Father.  As  light  cannot  hide  itself,  or  check  itself, 
but  when  a  candle  is  burning  in  a  room,  it  fills  the  whole 
room  with  light,  and  leaves  no  corner  of  it  in  darkness ;  so, 
when  the  light  of  the  Gospel  is  burning  in  a  man,  it  must 
needs  spread  through  every  part  of  him,  and  fill  every  part 
with  light :  and  it  enables  him  to  walk  in  everything,  and 
to  act  in  everything,  not  blindly,  as  in  darkness,  but  seeingly, 
so  that  he  knows  what  he  ought  to  do,  and  is  able  to  do  it. 
This,  I  say,  it  must  needs  do,  unless  there  be  something 
within  him  to  check  it :  for  the  light  will  not  check  itself,  or 
stop  of  itself.  The  leaven  will  work  through  his  whole 
heart  and  soul  and  mind,  raising  them  all,  turning  them  all 
from  heavy  lumps  of  dough  into  nourishing  wholesome 
bread.  There  is  no  part  of  a  man's  nature  which  the  Gospel 
does  not  purify,  no  relation  of  Hfe  which  it  does  not  hallow. 
It  does  not  make  him  less  a  husband,  less  a  father,  less  a 
son,  less  a  servant,  than  he  was  before  :  it  does  not  rob  him 
of  one  of  his  finer  feelings,  of  one  of  his  home  affections, 
of  one  of  his  powers  of  body  or  of  mind :  but  it  gives  them 
all  a  lift,  and  sanctifies  them  all,  and  makes  them  all  rise 
heavenward. 

This,  I  say,  is  what  we  ought  to  be :  this  is  the  effect 
which  the  Gospel  ought  to  produce  on  a  man's  character, 
and  which  it  would  produce,  if  it  were  received  with  child- 
like simplicity  and  devotion.  But  does  it  in  fact  produce 
this  effect  ?  does  it  do  so  frequently  and  commonly  ?  Has 
it  done  so  in  all  of  us,  in  whom  it  ought  to  have  been 
working  ever  since  we  were  baptized  into   the   name  of 


THE    GOSPEL    LEAVEN.  67 

Jesus  ?  Are  we  what  we  ought  to  be?  This  is  the  second 
question :  What  are  we  ?  What  is  the  nature  of  the  cha- 
racters which  we  find  among  the  bulk  of  men  calHng  them- 
selves Christians  ?  This  is  the  subject  on  which  I  am  going 
to  preach  to  you  to-day.  I  am.  going  to  speak  to  you  of  the 
truth,  not  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  as  it  ought  to  be  in 
you,  pure  and  beautiful  and  spotless, — but  of  the  truth  as 
it  is  to  be  seen  in  too  many  calling  themselves  Christians, 
corrupt  and  deformed  and  full  of  spots.  I  am  going  to 
shew  you  how  in  point  of  fact  the  leaven  of  the  Gospel 
does  work,  or  rather  how  its  working  is  checked  and  hin- 
dered, in  the  bosoms  of  too  many,  who  would  be  shocked 
and  angry  if  I  told  them  that  they  are  far  from  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Yet  if  it  be  true  that,  in  whatever  man  the  prin- 
ciples of  christian  holiness  exist  in  spirit  and  in  power,  they 
must  needs  go  on  working,  until  the  whole  man  is  leavened, 
what  must  we  think  of  those  persons  who  are  content  to 
stop  short  of  that  total  leavening  ?  I  say,  who  are  content 
to  stop  short ;  for  I  am  not  speaking  of  those  faithful 
Christians,  who,  conscious  of  their  failings,  are  striving  to 
press  on  toward  perfection.  To  them  I  have  only  to  say, 
God  speed  you  on  your  road  !  Many  however  are  making 
no  such  efforts :  some  of  these  are  not  yet  leavened  at  all ; 
some  may  be  a  quarter  leavened,  some  half  leavened,  and 
some  three  parts  leavened.  But  whatever  differences  there 
may  be  among  these  four  classes,  they  all  agree  in  this, — 
that  they  are  content  to  stop  short  of  that  total  leavening, 
which  alone  proves  the  authority  of  God  and  of  his  Son  to 
reign  above  all  and  over  all  in  the  heart.  Now  willingly  to 
stop  short  of  this  total  leavening  is  willingly  to  stop  short 
of  heaven.  For  what  says  the  text?  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal,  until  the  whole  was  leavened.  The  whole 
then  must  be  leavened,  or  at  least  must  be  in  a  fair  way  of 


68  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

being  leavened  :  else  the  principle  at  work  within  us  is  not 
the  pure  and  living  principle  of  Christ's  kingdom  :  it  is  not 
Christ,  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  unto 
salvation.  For  Christ's  power  is  almighty.  He  did  not, 
when  on  earth,  cast  six  devils  out  of  Mary  Magdalene,  and 
leave  one :  he  cast  out  all  the  seven.  He  did  not  partly 
cure  the  lame  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  :  he  made  him 
every  whit  whole.  So  was  it  during  our  Saviour's  stay  on 
earth  :  and  so  must  it  be  with  us  his  people,  now  that  he  is 
King  in  heaven.  Every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  within 
us  against  the  known  will  of  God  must  be  cast  down  :  every 
thought  must  be  brought  into  obedience  to  Christ.  Less 
than  this  must  not  satisfy  us,  if  we  would  be  numbered 
among  Christ's  true  people.  What  then  ought  we  to  think 
of  those  who  are  satisfied  with  less  ?  Yet  we  ourselves  are 
perhaps  among  the  number.  We  have  perhaps  been  content 
to  go  on  hitherto  with  an  unleavened  heart,  with  an  un- 
leavened will,  with  an  unleavened  tongue,  with  an  unleavened 
temper;  and,  unmindful  of  what  we  ought  to  be,  are  satisfied 
to  continue  as  we  are.  Surely  a  danger  of  this  kind  deserves 
to  be  well  guarded  against.  Look  then  on  the  pictures  I 
am  about  to  set  before  you  :  listen  to  the  descriptions  I 
shall  now  draw,  first  of  those  unhappy  persons  who  are  not 
leavened  at  all,  next  of  those  who  are  a  quarter  leavened, 
thirdly  of  those  who  are  half  leavened,  and  fourthly  of  those 
who  are  three  parts  leavened :  and  as  each  of  these  four 
pictures  passes  before  your  eyes,  say  to  yourselves,  Is  this 
my  state  ? 

First,  there  are  persons,  I  fear,  in  every  congregation,  who 
as  yet  are  not  leavened  at  all.  And  who  are  they  ?  Why, 
they  are  those  who  put  on  their  religion  with  their  Sunday 
clothes,  and  with  their  Sunday  clothes  take  it  off  again. 
They  come  to  church,  when  they  have  nothing  else  to  do  : 
they  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  now  and  then  :  if  they  can  r-^ad, 


THE   GOSPEL   LEAVEN.  69 

they  sometimes  read  a  chapter  in  the  New  Testament.  This 
makes  up  the  sum  of  their  rehgion.  Except  at  those  parti- 
cular times  when  they  have  a  Bible  or  Prayerbook  in  their 
hands,  they  act,  and  think,  and  speak,  as  if  there  were  no 
righteous  God  in  hesiven.  Can  we  say  of  such  persons  that 
they  are  leavened  ?  They  have  not  even  begun  to  be  leavened. 
The  leaven  of  the  Gospel  has  not  begun  to  shew  itself  in 
any  part  of  their  behaviour.  There  is  nothing  in  their  lives, 
which  proves  them  to  be  the  better  for  all  they  may  have 
learnt  of  God  and  Christ.  Therefore  I  can  only  liken  them 
to  flour  into  which  leaven  has  been  put ;  but,  from  some- 
thing wrong  or  other,  it  has  not  begun  to  work.  If  flour  in 
such  a  state  deserves  to  be  called  bread,  then  may  men  in 
such  a  state  deserve  to  be  called  Christians.  Now  can  this 
be  a  safe  state  to  loiter  and  to  sleep  in  ?  Can  they  be  safe, 
who  have  not  so  much  as  taken  the  first  step  toward  becom- 
ing Christians  in  anything  more  than  name  ?  If  any  such 
be  here  present,  I  beseech  you,  weigh  this  well.  Perhaps 
you  have  reached  the  noon  of  life ;  nay,  perhaps  you  are 
already  in  the  evening  of  your  days,  and  the  shades  of  night, 
the  shades  of  death,  are  closing  round  you.  You  have  a 
great  deal  of  work  on  your  hands ;  you  have  a  long  journey 
to  take;  and  you  have  not  even  put  your  hands  to  the 
plough :  you  have  not  yet  entered  upon  the  road  to  God. 
Is  this  a  safe  state  for  any  one  to  tarry  in  a  moment  longer  ? 
Up  and  work,  while  it  is  yet  day  with  you  ;  up  and  on  your 
road  to  heaven.  Hasten  to  Christ;  for  he  has  said,  I  am 
the  door,  and  the  way,  and  the  life.  Faith  in  him  is  the 
only  door,  keeping  his  commandments  the  only  way,  that 
can  lead  you  to  life  eternal. 

But  there  is  a  second  class  of  persons,  a  shade  better 
than  the  former,  persons  who  have  some  general  notions 
and  faint  feelings  about  religion,  but  are  held  in  bondage 
by  some  known   sin.     These  I  call  the  quarter  leavened. 


70  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Religion  has   begun  to  make  some   slight   impression  on 
them.    Perhaps  the  threatenings  of  the  Gospel  have  startled 
them ;  or  its  promises  have  caught  their  fancy.     Perhaps 
the  goodness  of  their  Saviour  has  kindled  a  spark  of  grateful 
love  in  their  hearts.     They  would  fain  go  to  heaven,  and 
tlee  from  hell,  and  follow  Christ,  and  own  him  for  their  Lord 
and  Saviour,  if  they  could  do  it  all  without  pains  or  cost. 
But  they  cannot.     Heaven  is  not  to  be  reached  so  easily. 
They  must  work  out  their  salvation  :  they  must  strive  to 
enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,  and  to  walk  along  the  narrow  way  : 
they  must  follow  Christ  with  a  cross  upon  their  shoulders  : 
they  must  deny  themselves  :  they  must  fight  against  the  sin 
to  which  they  have  hitherto  been  captive,  and  not  only  fight 
against  it,  but  conquer  it ;  and  not  only  conquer  it,  so  as  to 
be  free  from  it  in  practice,  but  they  must  even  learn  to  hate 
it.     Now  all  this  effort,  and  striving,  and  battling,  is  more 
than  they  can  make  up  their  minds  to.     Yet  until  they  have 
resolved  on  this,  and  have  done  it,  they  cannot  be  called 
Christ's  people.     For  what  does  St.  Paul  say  ?     "  They  that 
are  Christ's  have  crucified  the  flesh  with  its  affections  and 
lusts."     So  that,  unless  we  have  crucified  the  flesh  with  its 
affections  and  lusts, — unless,  to  say  the  very  least,  we  are 
doing  our  utmost  for  Christ's  sake  to  mortify  and  destroy  all 
the  evil  passions  and  desires  so  agreeable  to  our  corrupt 
nature,  we  are  none  of  Christ's  ;  we  have  no  claim  to  be 
numbered  among  his  people.     But  perhaps  you  will  tell  me 
that  these  men  are  to  be  pitied  for  living,  as  they  do,  in  sin. 
You  will  plead  in  their  behalf,  that  they  do  not  love  their 
sin,  but   sin  against  their  better  judgment ;  that  they  are 
carried  away  in  spite  of  themselves  by  the  force  of  habit,  by 
temptation,  by  the  example  of  others.    I  answer,  God  forbid 
that  they  should  love  their  sin  !  if  they  did,  they  would  not 
be  so  much  as  a  quarter  leavened.     Still  it  is  quite  enough 
to  condemn  a  man,  that  he  is  habitually  guilty  of  what  he 


THE    GOSPEL   LEAVEN.  7 1 

knows  to  be  sinful.  Hear  what  St.  Paul  says  of  such  a  man  : 
he  calls  him  the  slave  of  sin  ;  and  his  wages  are  to  be  death. 
These  men  then,  even  by  the  shewing  of  those  who  speak 
the  best  of  them,  are  slaves,  the  slaves  of  sin.  Until  the 
Gospel  leaven  has  spread  through  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
these  poor  slaves,  until  Christ  has  set  them  free  from  the 
chain  of  their  sins,  until  they  have  become  Christians  in 
feeling  and  deed,  as  well  as  in  wish  and  word,  they  must 
not  cherish  a  hope  of  that  eternal  life  which  Christ  has  pre- 
pared for  such  as  truly  love  him.  For  everlasting  life  is  the 
gift  of  God :  and  he  will  never  give  so  good  a  gift  to  the 
slaves  of  sin ;  he  will  keep  it  for  his  own  servants,  who  have 
served  him  faithfully  and  from  the  heart. 

The  third  class  I  am  to  speak  of  are  the  half  leavened.  I 
call  those  half  leavened,  who  divide  their  life  into  two  parts, 
confining  their  religion  to  particular  times,  when  they  are 
engaged  in  the  worship  of  God,  while  they  carry  on  their 
worldly  affairs  in  a  worldly  spirit.  These  persons  are 
generally  well  enough  as  far  as  the  external  form  goes. 
They  are  free  from  all  gross  vices;  they  are  decent  and 
orderly  in  their  way  of  living  ;  they  observe  all  the  cere- 
monies of  religion  :  if  God  were  satisfied  with  outward  wor- 
ship, they  would  be  as  good  Christians  as  any.  But  follow 
them  to  their  shop,  to  their  business,  to  their  families,  and 
what  becomes  of  their  religion  ?  It  is  nowhere  to  be  seen. 
Ask  after  it :  they  will  tell  you  that  they  are  not  methodists, 
that  religion  is  a  very  good  thing  in  its  proper  place,  that 
they  are  quite  as  strict  as  their  neighbours,  that  they  never 
swear,  nor  do  anybody  any  harm,  that  they  would  not  be 
guilty  of  anything  really  wicked  on  any  account,  but  that, 
living  in  the  world,  they  must  needs  do  as  the  world  does, 
to  avoid  being  cheated  and  laughed  at.  This,  or  something 
like  it,  is  the  language  of  the  half  leavened.  But  is  this  the 
language  oi  the  Gospel  ?     Look  the  whole  New  Testament 


72  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

through,  from  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  to  the  last  of 
the  Revelation,  and  see  if  you  can  find  a  single  word  in 
favour  of  doing  as  the  world  does.  Not  one  such  word  will 
you  find  there  :  but  you  will  find  many  words,  many  texts, 
many  warnings,  many  commands  against  it.  You  will  find 
St.  Paul  (Rom.  xii.  2)  telling  us  not  to  be  conformed  to  this 
world,  but  to  be  transformed,  or  changed  so  completely,  as 
to  become  quite  new  men.  You  will  find  St.  John  (i  ii.  15) 
exhorting  us  not  to  love  the  world,  nor  the  things  of  the 
world ;  for,  if  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father 
is  not  in  him.  You  will  find  St.  James  (iv.  4)  declaring  that 
the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God;  so  that 
whoever  will  be  friends  with  the  world,  is  the  enemy  of  God. 
As  for  doing  as  others  do,  if  that  is  to  be  the  rule  of 
right,  what  is  the  meaning  of  all  those  texts,  which  tell  us 
that  Christ  came  to  redeem  us  to  himself  for  a  peculiar 
people?  Peculiar  in  what?  Why,  in  acting  differently 
from  others.  We  must  be  peculiar,  if  we  are  Christ's 
people,  in  utterly  renouncing  Mammon.  We  must  be 
peculiar  in  acting  upon  those  christian  principles,  which 
are  foolishness  to  the  worldly.  We  must  be  peculiar  in 
taking  God's  law  for  our  rule,  God's  Son  for  our  pattern, 
God's  love  for  our  motive,  God's  glory  and  approbation  for 
our  end  and  aim.  Christ's  people  are  peculiar  in  living 
unto  God,  in  keeping  him  always  before  their  eyes,  in  giving 
him  the  first  place  in  their  thoughts,  in  making  it  their  chief 
study  and  delight  to  please  him.  Above  all,  they  are 
peculiar  in  setting  their  hearts,  not  on  anything  which 
this  world  can  bestow,  but  on  the  blessed  prospect  of 
living,  after  death,  with  Christ  and  God.  These  are  the 
things  which  Christ's  people  are  peculiar  in :  these,  in  other 
words,  are  the  marks  of  the  true  Christian.  In  proportion 
as  a  person  has  these  divine  marks  in  him,  in  the  same 
proportion  is  he  a  true  Christian.     But  if  so,  the  man  who 


THE    GOSPEL    LEAVEN. 


73 


professes  to  do  as  others  do,  and  to  take  the  world  for  his 
guide  and  model,  must  be  very  far  from  being  a  tru«  Chris- 
tian. He  may  pass  for  a  respectable  and  worthy  man  in 
the  opinion  of  his  fellows  ;  but  their  opinion  will  stand  him 
in  little  stead  at  the  judgment-seat  of  his  Lord.  There 
the  question  will  be,  not  what  men  thought  of  him,  but 
what  Christ  thinks  of  him.  He  will  be  asked,  not  merely 
whether  he  was  sober,  and  orderly,  and  honest,  according 
to  the  scant  low  measure  which  the  decencies  of  the  world 
require  ;  but  whether  he  was  in  all  points  a  follower  of  his 
crucified  Master  to  the  best  of  his  means  and  power.  This 
is  the  question  we  shall  be  asked  there  :  therefore  this  is  the 
question  which,  if  we  are  wise,  we  shall  be  careful  to  ask 
ourselves  here.  We  should  each  say  to  himself,  What 
answer  shall  I  be  able  to  make,  when  Christ  asks  me  this 
searching  question?  or  what  will  it  profit  me  to  gain  the 
praise  of  men,  if  I  draw  down  the  condemnation  of  God  ? 
In  speaking  about  this  class  of  persons,  assuredly  I  have 
spoken  too  favorably,  when  I  have  called  them  half 
leavened.  The  leaven  has  not  worked  its  way  into  their 
hearts  :  it  has  not  worked  its  way  into  their  daily  life  and 
conduct.  Therefore  their  Christianity  in  the  eye  of  God  is 
only  so  much  outside  show.  There  is  none  of  the  pulp  or 
juice  in  them  :  their  religion  is  merely  rind  and  parings. 

But,  as  it  is  not  enough  to  be  half  leavened,  neither  is 
it  enough  for  us  to  be  only  three  parts  leavened.  The 
whole  must  be  leavened.  I  call  those  persons  three  parts 
leavened,  who  are  truly  religious  in  the  main.  They  have 
a  strong  sense  of  their  duty  to  God,  a  strong  sense  of  their 
duty  to  their  neighbour  :  they  act  more  or  less  from  a 
religious  principle  :  they  are  diligent  in  reading  the  word 
of  God  :  they  often  help  the  poor  :  they  are  anxious  for  the 
conversion  of  Turks  and  Jews  and  heathens  :  they  like  to 
hear  of  what  is  doing  by  the  Missionaries,  who  are  preach- 


74  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

ing  Christ  in  foreign  countries  :  and  they  are  ready  to  give 
their  nyte  toward  furthering  so  good  a  work.  What  then 
do  they  lack  ?  Why,  they  lack,  if  they  have  nothing  more 
than  this,  the  all-pervading  leaven  of  the  Gospel.  The 
yeast  has  worked  in  them,  and  worked  well :  but  still  there 
are  often  parts  in  such  people,  which  are  not  yet  quite 
leavened.  I  will  instance  the  temper  and  the  tongue.  I 
know  not  why  it  is,  that  sourness  and  tartness  of  temper 
are  so  often  complained  of  in  religious  people.  It  may  be, 
the  world  is  on  the  watch  against  such  persons,  and  takes 
count  of  failings  in  them,  which  in  others  pass  unnoticed. 
It  may  be,  that,  among  those  who  are  religious,  many  have 
been  led  to  religion  by  sickness  or  by  age  ;  and  sickness 
and  age  do  not  improve  the  temper.  It  may  be,  that,  in 
order  to  become  religious,  they  have  had  to  fight  many 
hard  battles  with  their  own  hearts  :  they  may  have  had 
much  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  themselves  for  their 
slow  progress  in  holiness  :  perhaps  they  have  suffered 
vexation  and  persecution  from  their  less  religious  friends 
and  neighbours  and  relations  :  and  all  these  things  are 
likely  to  hurt  and  sour  the  temper.  But  whatever  be  the 
reason,  certain  it  is  that  religious  people  are  charged  with 
being  harsh,  and  even  uncharitable  in  temper,  often er  than 
with  any  other  fault. 

Another  fault  not  seldom  found  in  religious  persons  is 
an  unruly  tongue.  Not  that  they  are  more  guilty  on  this 
score  than  others :  on  the  contrary  they  are  less  so.  Still 
it  is  a  fault  they  are  often  guilty  of:  and  it  is  one  of  those 
spots  which  one  does  not  much  heed,  when  the  whole 
character  is  ungodly,  but  which  looks  very  black  and  ugly 
on  the  whiteness  of  a  Christian's  coat.  By  unruliness  of 
tongue  I  do  not  of  course  mean  those  grosser  sins  of 
swearing  or  of  slandering:  such  things  can  never  come 
from  a  Christian's  mouth :   I  mean  all  that   idle  tattling 


THE    GOSPEL   LEAVEN. 


75 


about  our  neighbour's  business,  which  is  commonly  called 
gossiping.  This  gossiping  has  been  too  frequent  a  fault 
among  Christians,  even  from  the  earliest  times :  for  we  find 
St.  Paul  reproving  the  tattlers  and  busybodies,  who  wander 
about  from  house  to  house,  speaking  things  which  they 
ought  not. 

These  two  kinds  of  faults  then, — or  let  me  rather  call 
them  plainly  sins,  sins  of  the  temper,  and  sins  of  the 
tongue, — are  often  met  with  in  those  who  are  only  three 
parts  leavened.  Now  when  such  persons  are  aware  of 
these  sins  of  theirs,  if  they  grieve  over  them,  and  strive 
against  them,  and  pray  to  God  to  enable  them  to  keep  a 
better  guard  over  their  tongues  and  tempers,  the  leaven  is 
still  working  in  their  hearts ;  and  we  may  hope  that  with  the 
help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  may  go  on  still  further  toward 
perfection.  But  too  often  this  is  not  the  case.  Too  often  per- 
sons sit  down  satisfied  with  the  progress  they  have  already 
made,  and  measure  themselves  with  the  ungodly,  instead  of 
measuring  themselves  by  Christ's  perfect  law.  Too  often  they 
are  content  with  being  better  than  those  about  them,  and 
think  there  can  be  no  great  harm  in  being  a  little  fretful,  or 
a  little  sullen  at  times,  or  in  speaking  a  little  harshly  of  a 
neighbour,  or  in  busying  themselves  with  other  people's 
affairs.  These  and  the  like  faults  according  to  them  are  only 
natural  infirmities,  which  there  is  little  or  no  need  to  correct, 
and  which  God  will  not  be  quick  to  notice.  Now  this  is 
a  great  mistake.  God  is  not  quick  to  mark  those  faults 
which  we  grieve  over  and  fight  against :  on  the  contrary,  he 
has  promised  to  forgive  all  such,  and  to  help  us  to  get  the 
better  of  them.  But  the  moment  we  indulge  ourselves  in 
any  one  sin,  and  cease  to  strive  against  it,  that  moment  it 
becomes  a  presumptuous  sin ;  and  no  presumptuous  sin  is 
small.  With  regard  to  the  particular  faults  in  question, 
hear  what  St.  James   says  of  the   tongue :  "  If  any  one 


76  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

among  you  seem  to  be  religious,  and  bridleth  not  his 
tongue,  he  deceiveth  his  own  heart,  and  his  religion  is 
vain  "  (i.  26).  Can  this  be  a  small  fault,  which  is  enough 
to  make  the  whole  of  a  man's  religion  good  for  nothing? 
So  necessary  is  it  to  set  a  watch  over  our  mouth,  and  to 
keep  the  door  of  our  lips,  lest  we  be  guilty  of  offending 
with  our  words. 

And  as  it  behoves  a  Christian  to  put  a  bridle  on  his 
tongue,  so  must  he  do  his  best  to  put  a  bridle  on  his  temper. 
Nor  is  it  enough  to  bridle  our  tempers ;  we  must  also  strive 
to  change  their  nature.  If  ye  be  led  of  the  Spirit,  says 
St.  Paul,  if  ye  are  under  the  guidance  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
walk  in  the  Spirit,  and  sow  to  the  Spirit ;  that  is,  walk  as 
Christ  would  have  you,  and  cherish  those  graces  and  dis- 
positions which  belong  to  the  children  of  God.  And  which 
are  they?  St.  Paul  reckons  them  up  in  the  5th  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians :  among  them  are  love,  joy, 
peace,  gentleness,  and  meekness.  Who  then  dares  say  of 
Christ's  religion  that  it  is  a  harsh,  sour,  unpleasant  thing? 
It  is  not  religion  that  makes  men  harsh  and  sour,  but  the 
want  of  it.  The  harshness  and  sourness  only  shew  that  the 
fruit  is  not  yet  ripe.  Truly  Christian  tempers,  those  tem- 
pers which  are  thoroughly  leavened  by  the  Spirit,  so  far 
from  being  harsh  and  sour,  are  the  sweetest  and  gentlest 
that  can  be  seen.  I  speak  from  my  own  observation  :  for 
I  have  known  some  such  persons  myself,  persons  in  whose 
company  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  be,  without  feeling  that 
one  was  breathing  the  very  air  of  Christ's  kingdom.  But  if 
this  perfection  can  be  attained,  every  follower  of  Christ  is 
bound  to  strive  after  it :  and  how  far  are  they  from  the  full 
growth  of  the  Gospel,  whose  temper  and  tongues  are  still 
unleavened  !  Truly,  notwithstanding  the  progress  they  may 
have  made,  those  who  are  only  three  parts  leavened  are  still 
too  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 


THE   GOSPEL    LEAVEN.  77 

Thus  have  I  described  to  you  four  classes  of  men,  all 
calling  themselves  Christians,  all  perhaps  thinking  them- 
selves safe,  and  yet  all  coming  far  short  of  that  total  leaven- 
ing, which  alone  proves  the  love  and  the  fear  of  God  to  hold 
their  rightful  sway  over  a  man's  heart.  Therefore  it  becomes 
each  of  us  to  ask  ourselves  very  seriously,  "  Do  I  belong  to 
any  of  these  four  classes  ?  and  to  which  of  them  ?  Have  I 
such  a  practical  sense  of  my  duty  to  God,  that  I  may  ven- 
ture to  deem  myself  three  parts  leavened  ?  Have  I  merely 
a  sense  of  the  seemhness  of  religion,  and  so  am  only  half 
leavened  ?  Have  I  nothing  but  a  wish  and  a  feeling  about 
the  matter?  and  am  I  only  a  quarter  leavened?  Or  am  I 
in  that  worst  state  of  all,  in  which  the  leaven  has  not  yet 
begun  to  work  ?  "  In  one  or  other  of  these  four  states  many 
of  every  congregation  may  assuredly  be  numbered.  Let  each 
of  you  ask  himself,  "  In  which  of  these  states  am  I  ?  "  that, 
thus  comparing  what  you  are,  with  what  you  ought  to  be, 
you  may  be  better  enabled  to  set  about  correcting  and 
amending  what  is  amiss  in  you. 

But  perhaps  some  of  you  may  be  inclined  to  say,  "  Can  a 
man  be  so  very  perfect  as  all  this  ?  Are  no  allowances  to 
be  made  for  the  weakness  of  human  nature  ?  "  I  answer, 
a  man  can  be  as  perfect  as  this ;  because  many  have  been 
so.  Nay,  many,  I  trust,  who  are  as  perfect  as  this,  are  now 
alive.  And  they  would  be  the  very  first  to  tell  you,  that 
even  they  need  all  the  allowances,  all  the  mercy,  all  the 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  would  be  the  first  to  tell  you 
of  themselves,  "  We  feel  how  very  far  short  we  come  of  that 
perfection  which  Jesus  has  set  before  us :  we  feel  how  far 
short  we  fall  of  that  command  of  his.  Be  ye  perfect  even  as 
your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  For  this  is  the  true 
standard,  which  we  should  set  before  us  and  endeavour  to 
reach,  the  goodness  and  righteousness  and  loving-kindness 
and  purity  of  God,  as  shewn  to  us  in  his  blessed  Son.   That 


78  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Son  was  the  express  image  of  his  Father's  excellency  :  so 
that  the  more  we  become  like  the  Son,  the  more  we  shall 
be  like  the  Father.  But  how  is  it  possible  for  us  to  become 
like  the  Son  of  God,  until  our  hearts,  and  minds,  and  words, 
and  thoughts,  and  ^vishes,  are  fully  leavened  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Gospel,  the  spirit  of  holiness  and  love  ? 

The  only  remaining  question  is,  How  are  we  to  get  this 
precious  and  all-hallowing  leaven,  which  is  to  change  the 
dross  of  our  natures  into  gold?  First,  I  would  have  you 
search  for  it  in  the  New  Testament.  The  words  of  Jesus 
and  of  his  apostles  are  the  true  leaven,  which  you  are  to 
apply  to  your  hearts.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  put  leaven  to 
the  flour,  unless  we  also  knead  it  into  the  flour,  and  mix 
them  well  together.  So  it  is  not  enough  to  store  our  me- 
mories with  the  leaven  of  God's  word,  unless  we  work  it 
thoroughly  and  diligently  into  our  hearts,  by  self-examina- 
tion and  by  prayer.  The  Bible  and  other  godly  books  teach 
you  what  you  ought  to  be :  let  self-examination  shew  you 
what  you  are :  and  then  compare  the  two  together.  Some 
people  have  a  dread  of  self-examination,  as  if  it  were  a  very 
difficult  and  frightful  thing :  and  difficult  it  certainly  is,  if  a 
person  puts  it  off,  until  he  finds  that  in  a  single  day  perhaps 
he  has  to  reckon  up  the  sins  of  years.  But  if  you  would 
practise  it  regularly,  nothing  can  be  easier.  Is  it  not  easy 
to  ask  oneself,  when  one  goes  to  bed,  "  Have  I  prayed  to 
God  heartily,  or  thought  of  him  all  day  ?  Have  I  behaved 
to  my  neighbour  as  I  would  have  him  behave  to  me  ?  I 
made  a  bargain  to-day  with  such  a  man  :  did  I  make  it  on 
such  terms  as  I  should  have  thought  fair,  had  I  been  in  his 
place  ?  I  had  to  do  such  a  piece  of  work  for  my  master : 
did  I  do  it  as  I  would  have  done  it,  had  I  been  working 
for  myself?  I  had  a  quarrel  with  such  a  one  this  morning  : 
was  the  fault  mine  or  his?  Did  I  say  anything  to  pro- 
voke him?     Did  I  remember  that  a  soft   answer  tumet^ 


THE   GOSPEL   LEAVEN.  79 


away  wrath?    Was  I  slow  to  take  offence,  and  quick  to 
forgive  it  ?  " 

Look  thus  at  yourselves  every  night,  my  brethren,  by  the 
bright  and  piercing  light  of  the  Gospel.  Carry  the  lamp  of 
God's  law  in  your  hands,  and  search  through  every  corner 
of  your  hearts.  Never  lay  your  head  on  your  pillow  without 
doing  so  :  for  in  this  sense  also  most  assuredly  sufficient  for 
the  day  is  the  evil  thereof.  Cast  your  thoughts  over  what 
you  have  done,  and  compare  it  with  what  you  ought  to  have 
done.  Think  what  you  have  been,  and  then  think  what 
Christ  was.  After  such  an  examination  you  will  never  be 
able  to  close  your  eyes,  until  you  have  fallen  on  your  knees, 
and  besought  God  to  send  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  circumcise 
what  is  still  uncircumcised  in  you,  and  to  leaven  what  is  still 
unleavened. 


VII. 

THE  ANGELS  TEXT. 

Luke  ii.  14. 

Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
toward  men. 

OUCH  was  the  text  of  the  angels  on  the  night  of  aur 
^  Saviour's  birth ;  and  to  that  text  our  Saviour's  life 
furnished  the  sermon.  For  it  was  a  life  of  holiness  and 
devotion  to  his  Father's  service,  a  life  spent  in  doing  good 
to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  all  around  him  ;  and  it  was  ended 
by  a  death  undergone  on  purpose  to  reconcile  man  with 
God,  and  to  set  earth  at  peace  with  heaven.  Here  is  a 
practical  sermon  on  the  angels  text,  the  best  of  all  sermons, 
a  sermon  not  of  words,  but  deeds.  Whoever  will  duly 
study  that  practical  sermon,  whoever  with  a  teachable, 
inquiring  heart  will  study  the  accounts  of  our  Saviour's 
words  and  actions  handed  down  in  the  four  Gospels,  will 
need  little  else  to  enlighten  him  in  the  way  of  godliness. 
Nevertheless,  since  it  has  pleased  God  that  faith  should 
come  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  multitude  of  preachers, 
I  will  say  a  few  words  to  you  on  each  of  the  heads  into 
which  this,  the  angels  text,  divides  itself. 

The  first  words  of  it  are.  Glory  to  God  !   and  a  most 
weighty  lesson  may  we  draw  for  ourselves,  from  finding  the 


THE   ANGELS   TEXT.  8 1 


angels  put  that  first.  A  world  is  redeemed.  Millions  on 
millions  of  human  beings  are  rescued  from  everlasting  death. 
Is  not  this  the  thing  uppermost  in  the  angels'  thoughts  ?  Is 
not  this  mighty  blessing  bestowed  on  man  the  first  thing  that 
they  proclaim  ?  No,  it  is  only  the  second  thing  :  the  first 
thing  is,  Glory  to  God  !  Why  so  ?  Because  God  is  the 
giver  of  this  salvation ;  nay,  is  himself  the  Saviour,  in  the 
person  of  the  only-begotten  Son.  Moreover  because  in 
heavenly  minds  God  always  holds  the  first  place,  and  they 
look  at  everything  with  a  view  to  him.  But  if  this  was  the 
feeling  of  the  angels,  it  is  clear  we  cannot  be  like  angels 
until  the  same  feeling  is  uppermost  with  us  also.  Would 
we  become  like  them,  we  must  strive  to  do  God's  will  as  it 
is  done  in  heaven  ;  that  is,  because  it  is  God's  will  and 
because  we  are  fully  persuaded  that  whatever  he  wills  must 
needs  be  the  wisest  and  best  and  rightest  thing  to  do, 
whether  we  can  see  the  reasons  of  it  or  not.  We  must  have 
God  ever  in  our  thoughts,  just  as  most  men  have  themselves 
ever  in  their  thoughts.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  should  be 
always  considering  what  God  is  like ;  any  more  than  a 
selfish  man  is  always  considering  what  he  himself  is  like. 
But  the  selfish  man  does  everything  with  a  view  to  self,  to 
his  own  pleasure,  to  his  own  interest,  to  his  own  profit,  and 
convenience,  and  no  more  dreams  of  crossing  his  own  wishes, 
or  his  own  will,  than  of  cutting  and  maiming  his  body.  This, 
you  must  be  well  aware,  is  the  way  most  men  look  to  them- 
selves. Now  I  Avould  have  you  look  to  God  exactly  in  the 
same  manner.  But  why  say,  /  would  have  you  ?  The  Bible 
would  have  you,  Jesus  Christ  would  have  you,  make  a  habit 
of  trying  to  obey  and  to  please  God  in  everything,  and 
thereby  ofi'ering  and  devoting  to  him  all  your  daily  doings. 
Whether  you  eat  or  drink,  or  whatever  you  do,  you  should 
do  all  to  God's  glory.  Then  will  you  be  like  the  angels 
who  began  their  text  with,  Glory  to  God  ! 

G 


82  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

The  next  branch  of  the  text  is,  Peace  on  earth.  Our 
Saviour  is  especially  called  the  Prince  of  Peace,  because  his 
great  purposes  were  to  bring  down  peace  to  man,  and  to 
plant  and  foster  peace  within  man.  He  brought  down  peace 
to  man ;  for  he  came  with  a  message  of  free  pardon  from 
the  Father  to  proclaim  that  God  was  willing  to  reconcile  the 
world  to  himself,  and  would  not  impute  their  trespasses  to 
men,  if  they  would  only  turn  to  him,  and  believe  in  him. 
Had  not  Jesus  brought  us  this  blessed  message,  he  would 
not  have  been  the  Messiah.  For  it  was  prophesied  of  him 
in  the  Psalms,  that  he  should  speak  peace  to  his  people, 
and  to  his  saints  (Ixxxv.  8) ;  and  again  in  the  prophet 
Zechariah,  "  He  shall  speak  peace  to  the  heathen"  (ix.  lo); 
and  more  strongly  still  in  that  sublime  passage  of  Isaiah, 
where  the  prophet  says,  "  Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my 
people,  saith  your  God  :  speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem  ; 
and  cry  unto  her  that  her  warfare  is  accomplished."  Here 
is  a  plain  proclamation  of  j^eace  :  for  the  warfare  is  said  to 
be  accompHshed,  or  to  be  at  an  end.  But  when  war  is  over, 
peace  begins.  This  however  is  not  all.  The  prophet  adds 
how  the  war  was  to  end  :  "  her  iniquity  is  pardoned."  From 
these  last  words  we  learn  that  the  war  is  a  war  with  God ; 
and  that  he  puts  a  stop  to  it  by  a  pardon.  Well  then  might 
the  angels  sing.  Peace  on  earth  !  when  He  was  appearing 
upon  earth,  who  was  the  ambassador  of  peace  with  Heaven. 

But  Jesus  was  not  content  with  proclaiming  peace  to  man. 
He  further  made  it  one  of  his  prime  objects  to  plant  and 
foster  peace  within  man.  Peace  was  his  legacy  to  his 
apostles.  "  My  peace  I  leave  with  you,"  were  his  words  to 
them  the  night  he  was  betrayed.  But  what  kind  of  peace  ? 
Truly  every  kind  which  man  can  enjoy  :  peace  of  conscience, 
such  as  a  man  enjoys,  who  knows  his  sins  to  be  forgiven  : 
peace  of  heart,  such  as  a  father  may  feel  even  in  the  hour  of 
his  bitterest  sorrow,  if  he  knows  that  the  child,  whom  death 


THE    ANGELS   TEXT.  8^ 


has  just  taken  away,  is  only  sleeping,  as  the  daughter  of 
Jairus  slept,  and  that  Christ  will  hereafter  come  to  wake 
him  ;  peace  of  a  mind  at  ease  about  worldly  matters,  such  as 
befits  persons  who  have  been  taught  that  only  one  thing  is 
really  needful  to  a  reasonable  and  immortal  spirit,  that  our 
heart  and  treasure  should  both  be  in  heaven,  and  that,  with 
regard  to  our  earthly  wants  and  wishes,  everything  here 
below  is  in  the  hands  of  God,  who  cares  for  us,  has  no  plea- 
sure in  afflicting  us,  and  has  promised  to  make  all  things 
work  together  for  our  good,  if  we  will  only  love  and  fear 
him;  lastly,  peace  and  union  between  brethren,  that  we 
may  all  make  up  one  body  under  Jesus  Christ  our  head. 

This  is  the  fourfold  peace  which  our  Saviour  came  to 
plant  and  foster  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Now  let  each  of  us 
ask  himself  with  all  seriousness,  do  I  feel  anything  of  this 
godly  peace?  Ask  yourselves,  for  instance,  whether  you 
have  the  peace  arising  out  of  the  humble  hope  that  your 
sins  are  pardoned.  But  remember,  it  is  impossible  to  arrive 
at  this,  without  being  first  convinced  of  sin.  He  that  knows 
not  the  danger  and  the  misery  of  being  at  war  with  God,  will 
not  feel  the  blessedness  of  being  at  peace  with  him.  Ask 
yourselves  again  whether  you  have  the  peace  of  heart  and 
mind  growing  out  of  a  thorough  trust  in  God  through  Christ. 
Do  you  look  to  him,  as  a  child  looks  to  its  parent,  for  the 
fulfilment  of  all  your  wishes  ?  When  he  thwarts  you,  do 
you  bow  down?  When  he  chastens  you,  do  you  kiss  the 
rod  ?  When  he  blesses  you,  do  you  ascribe  the  blessing  to 
the  only  Author  of  every  good  gift  ?  When  he  takes  away 
some  object  of  earthly  love,  which  has  struck  its  roots  so 
deep  into  you,  it  tears  your  very  heart  to  part  with  it,  do 
you, — instead  of  weakly  sinking  under  the  blow,  or  proudly 
hardening  yourself  against  it,  do  you  meekly  sorrow  over  it, 
with  a  patient  and  hopeful  sorrow,  like  men  who  know  that 
the  spirits  of  such  as  die  in  the  Lord  are  blessed;  and  that 


$4  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

it  is  good  for  the  departed  to  be  taken  away,  though  it  is 
bitter  for  the  survivor  to  be  left  behind  ? 

There  is  still  another  kind  of  peace,  concerning  which 
you  should  examine  yourselves  :  I  mean,  peace  and  union 
v/ith  your  christian  brethren.  Let  each  ask  himself  whether 
lie  feels  anything  of  that.  It  is  no  common  good  fellowship, 
it  is  no  weak  tie,  that  will  suffice.  We  are  to  love  our 
neighbour  as  ourselves  :  so  says  Christ.  We  are  to  love 
him,  not  in  word  only,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth :  so  says 
St.  John.  We  are  to  be  one  with  our  christian  brethren,  so 
as  all  to  make  up  one  family.  Nay,  this  is  not  enough. 
St.  Paul's  words  are  still  stronger :  he  would  have  us  all  be 
as  it  were  one  body,  one  in  interests,  one  in  affections,  one 
in  heart  and  mind  and  soul  and  spirit.  This  can  only  be 
brought  about  by  our  emptying  ourselves  of  ourselves,  that  the 
love  of  Christ  may  flow  into  us  and  fill  us  all  with  the  same 
affections  and  desires.  Have  we  thus  emptied  ourselves  ? 
But  it  is  useless  to  ask  the  question.  Of  course  we  have  not. 
This  is  the  last  and  highest  step  towards  christian  perfection, 
which  a  man  is  allowed  to  take  here  below  :  and  of  course 
we  have  not  taken  it.  But  have  we  ever  so  much  as  made 
the  attempt  ?  Have  we  ever  begun  to  fight  against  our  own 
selfishness  ?  Have  we  ever  determined  to  deny  ourselves, 
to  mortify  ourselves,  to  esteem  others  better  than  ourselyes, 
to  look  not  only  to  our  own  feelings  and  interests,  but  also 
to  those  of  others  ?  Have  we  ever  begun  to  seek  this 
peace  and  union,  far  as  we  may  be  from  having  attained 
to  it? 

If  we  have  not  done  so,  if  our  hearts  cannot  bear  us  true 
witness  that  we  have  any  of  these  difterent  kinds  of  peace 
within  us,  what  share  have  we  in  Christ's  coming  ?  What 
good  is  it  to  us  that  peace  on  earth  has  been  proclaimed,  if 
we  are  still  lying  under  God's  wrath,  still  a  prey  to  eating 
cares,  still  tossed  about  and  torn  by  raging  passions,  so  that 


THE   ANGELS   TEXT.  85 


our  hearts  are  full  of  war  ?  The  same  holy  book,  which  tells 
us  in  one  place  that  the  angels  proclaimed  peace  on  earth, 
tells  us  likewise  in  another  place,  "  there  is  no  peace,  saith 
God,  to  the  wicked."  Yet,  brethren,  though  Christ  may  have 
failed  on  all  former  occasions  to  bring  home  peace  to  some 
of  you,  let  him  not  fail  of  doing  so  now.  He  has  come  to 
you  once  more  to-day.  Once  more  have  we  been  permitted 
to  hear  the  story  of  his  birth,  the  message  of  the  angels,  the 
song  of  the  heavenly  choir.  We  have  followed  the  shep- 
herds to  the  humble  stable ;  and  our  souls  have  looked  on 
the  wondrous  babe,  the  Son  of  God,  the  maker  of  the 
world,  lying,  where  none  of  you  would  suffer  a  child  of 
yours  to  lie,  among  the  cattle  in  a  manger,  and  all  to  bring 
us  peace.  Will  you  again  refuse  the  precious  gift,  which  he 
has  come  from  beyond  the  stars  to  offer  you  ?  Accept  it 
this  time  for  his  sake,  for  your  own  sakes.  Begin  now, 
whatever  you  may  have  done  heretofore,  to  seek  his  peace, 
and  to  pursue  it. 

There  is  a  third  part  of  the  angels  text, — namely,  "  Good- 
will to  men  :  "  and  a  very  important  part  it  is.  For  it  sets  forth 
the  ground  of  our  salvation.  It  was  no  excellency  or  merit  of 
ours,  that  drew  our  Saviour  down  from  heaven  :  for  we  were 
full  of  nothing  but  demerits.  It  was  the  wretchedness  of 
our  fallen  state,  the  seeing  how  impossible  it  was  for  us  ever 
to  recover  by  our  own  strength,  that  moved  Almighty  God 
in  his  infinite  lovingkindness  to  send  his  Son  to  rescue  and 
redeem  us.  He  saw  that  there  was  none  to  save ;  therefore 
his  own  arm,  the  arm  of  God,  brought  us  salvation ;  the 
righteousness  of  God  was  manifested  to  sustain  us.  Well 
then  might  the  angels  proclaim  goodwill  to  man  at  Christ's 
birth,  since  his  birth  was  so  great  and  wonderful  a  showing 
forth  of  God's  goodwill  to  us.  For  herein,  as  St.  Paul  tells 
us,  "  God  commendeth,  or  showeth  forth,  his  love  toward 
us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us." 


86  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

(Rom.  V.  8.)  To  the  same  purport  are  the  words  of  St. 
John  :  "  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he 
loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins." 
(i  John  iv.  10.) 

But  though  this  love  of  God  for  his  sinful  creatures  is 
worthy  of  all  gratitude  and  praise,  the  goodwill  declared  in 
the  angels  text  means  something  more  than  mere  love.  The 
word,  which  we  translate  goodwill,  is  a  word  very  full  of 
meaning,  and  signifies  that  mixture  of  goodness  and  kind- 
ness and  wisdom,  which  leads  to  good  and  wise  plans.  The 
goodwill  then  in  the  angels  text  is  no  other  than  the  great 
and  merciful  purpose  of  our  redemption :  and  had  one  of 
the  angels  enlarged  on  the  text,  we  may  conceive  him 
expressing  himself  after  the  following  manner  :  "  This  night, 
O  man,  is  our  Father  and  your  Father  carrying  into  effect 
that  wonderful  plan,  which  he  has  prepared  ever  since  the 
fall  of  Adam.  The  prophecy  to  Adam,  that  the  seed  of  the 
woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head, — the  prophecy  to 
Abraham,  that  in  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed,  —  the  prophecy  of  Malachi,  that  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  should  arise  with  healing  on  his  wings, — these 
and  all  the  other  prophecies  which  speak  of  the  Messiah's 
coming,  are  now  fulfilled.  The  eternal  counsels  of  the  Lord 
are  now  about  to  take  effect.  His  faithfulness,  his  truth, 
liis  righteousness,  his  mercy  are  coming  down  from  heaven 
to  dwell  among  men,,  that  men  may  see  with  their  bodily 
eyes,  and  hear  with  their  bodily  ears,  the  goodness  of  their 
Father  and  their  God,  who  has  brought  to  light  a  marvellous 
way  of  reconciling  his  justice  with  his  mercy,  and  of  approv- 
ing himself  the  eternal  and  implacable  enemy  of  sin,  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  is  most  forgiving  to  repentant  sinners. 
It  is  this  union  of  goodness,  of  wisdom,  and  of  mercy,  that 
we  now  proclaim  and  announce  to  you,  under  the  name  of 
goodwill  to  men." 


THE    ANGELS   TEXT.  87 


Now  to  apply  this  part  of  the  angels  text  to  ourselves, 
have  we  any  proper  sense  and  feeling  of  this  goodwill  ?  If 
we  have,  we  shall  be  humble ;  inasmuch  as  we  are  saved, 
not  by  our  merits,  but  by  the  love  of  God,  in  spite  of  our 
manifold  demerits.  We  shall  be  thankful  •  for  surely  kind- 
ness like  this  ought  to  fill  our  hearts  with  gratitude.  God's 
love  toward  us  should  beget  in  us  love  toward  him.  Above 
all,  we  should  be  full  of  faith,  trusting  that  he  who  has 
begun  so  excellent  a  work,  will  bring  the  same  to  good 
eflect, — that  he  who  for  our  sakes  gave  his  only  Son  to  live 
a  poor  and  humble  life,  and  to  die  a  painful  and  shameful 
death,  will  together  with  that  Son  freely  give  us  all  things. 
We  cannot  suppose  it  was  a  pleasure  to  the  Son  of  God  to 
suffer  the  pains  of  infancy,  the  labours  and  mortifications 
and  trials  of  manhood,  the  pangs  of  a  cruel  death.  It  was 
no  pleasure  to  him  to  quit  the  glories  of  heayen,  in  order  to 
dwell  in  lowliness  and  contempt.  Why  then  did  he  undergo 
all  this  ?  From  goodwill,  to  save  man.  And  think  you  he 
will  leave  this  salvation  imperfect  and  so  render  his  incarna- 
tion, and  birth,  and  human  life  and  death,  of  no  avail  ?  O 
no  !  he  must  desire  to  finish  his  work ;  he  must  be  anxious 
to  make  up  the  crown  he  has  toiled  and  bled  for,  by  placing 
in  it  all  the  jewels,  all  the  souls  he  can  gather.  He  will 
never  be  wanting  to  us,  if  we  are  not  wanting  to  ourselves. 

Thus  have  I  spoken  to  you  on  the  angels  text,  and  in  so 
doing  have  spoken  of  man's  salvation.  The  end  of  the 
whole  is  God's  glory  ;  the  means  is  peace  on  earth ;  the  sole 
motive  is  goodness  and  lovingkindness  to  us  miserable  sin- 
ners. But  there  are  still  three  words  in  the  text,  which  I 
have  not  noticed.  The  angels  did  not  simply  say,  Glory  to 
God ;  but.  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  that  is,  in  heaven. 
Here  is  a  wonderful,  a  glorious,  a  soul-sustaining  scene 
opened  to  us.  The  angels  in  the  veiy  presence  of  God  are 
moved  by  our  sufferings  and  our  redemption.  Even  to  them, 


88  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

with  all  their  knowledge  of  God,  and  his  divine  works,  even 
to  them,  that  the  Word  should  stoop  to  be  made  flesh, 
unfolded  new  view  ^  of  the  eternal  Father's  goodness,  and 
furnished  a  fresh  theme  for  their  songs  of  praise.  Even  the 
angels  strike  their  golden  harps  at  the  joyful  news  of  man's 
salvation.  Shall  they  glorify  God  for  his  goodness  to  us, 
and  shall  we  forget  to  glorify  him  for  his  goodness  to  our- 
selves? Shall,  they  rejoice  over  us,  and  feel  for  us,  and 
shall  we  be  so  insensible,  so  deaf-hearted,  as  neither  to  re- 
joice nor  to  feel  for  ourselves, — for  our  escape  from  sin  and 
hell, —  for  our  restoration  to  the  hope  of  heaven?  Our 
Saviour  threatened  the  impenitent  Jews,  that  the  men  of 
Nineveh  should  rise  up  in  judgment  against  them,  and  con- 
demn them.  A  more  glorious  and  awful  set  of  witnesses,  if 
we  are  impenitent,  will  be  arrayed  against  us  Christians. 
The  very  angels  will  testify  against  us,  and  condemn  us : 
because,  when  they  had  proclaimed  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  he  was  forgotten  and  dishonoured  among  men ; 
because,  when  they  had  announced  the  coming  of  peace  on 
earth,  men  rejected  the  blessed  offer,  and  remained  at 
enmity  with  God,  and  with  themselves,  and  with  each  other ; 
because,  when  they  had  assured  us  of  goodwill  from  God  to 
men,  our  bosoms  did  not  echo  the  answering  cry  of  love  and 
gratitude  and  obedience  from  man  to  God.  Brethren,  may 
none  of  us  be  among  the  wretched  multitude,  against  whom 
this  testimony  will  be  offered  !  Let  us  bethink  ourselves  in 
time,  and  be  reconciled  to  God  in  time,  that,  as  Jesus  on 
this  day  brought  the  Godhead  down  from  heaven  to  earth, 
so,  by  the  work  of  his  Spirit  on  our  willing  and  obedient 
hearts,  he  may  raise  us  up  from  earth  to  heaven. 


VIII. 

THE    EPIPHANY; 

OR, 

FAR  AND  NIGH. 

Ephesians  ii.  12,  13. 

At  that  time  ye  were  without  Christ,  being  aliens  from  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of 
promise,  having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world.  But 
now  in  Christ  Jesus  ye,  who  sometimes  were  far  off,  are  made 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ. 

nPHESE  words  were  spoken  by  St.  Paul  to  the  converts 
^  he  had  made  at  Ephesus,  who,  before  he  preached  to 
them,  and  brought  them  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  were 
in  the  miserable  state  here  described.  They  were  without 
Christ :  they  were  ahens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel : 
they  were  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise  :  they 
were  without  hope,  and  without  God.  This  was  their 
wretched  plight,  so  long  as  they  were  far  off.  But  through 
the  grace  of  God,  who  was  pleased  to  send  his  servant 
Paul  to  declare  the  Gospel  of  salvation  to  them,  their  con- 
dition underwent  a  wonderful  change.  They  were  made 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  By  that  blood  they  were 
reconciled  to  God  :  they  were  made  partakers  in  the  cove- 
nant  of  promise,  fellow-citizens  with   the   saints,  became 


90  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

entitled  to  all  the  glorious  privileges  of  God's  people,  and 
were  admitted  to  dwell  in  his  house,  and  to  share  in  the 
blessings  and  honours  of  his  family. 

It  is  of  this  marvellous  and  happy  change,  that  St.  Paul 
reminds  the  Ephesians  in  the  text.  To  make  them  feel 
their  blessedness  as  Christians,  he  sets  before  them  their 
wretchedness  as  Gentiles,  or  heathens  ;  when,  as  we  read  in 
the  book  of  Acts,  they  were  worshippers  of  the  great  god- 
dess Diana,  and  of  the  statue  which  in  their  fond  conceits 
they  imagined  to  have  fallen  from  heaven  :  that  is,  they 
were  blind  idolaters,  and  bowed  down  to  gods  that  were 
no  gods,  but  the  work  of  men's  hands,  wood  and  stone. 
Nor  was  this  the  case  with  the  people  of  Ephesas  alone, 
before  the  coming  of  Christ.  The  Jews  indeed  had  been 
favoured  from  the  earliest  times  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
one  true  God :  and  through  their  teaching,  in  almost  every 
great  city  there  was  a  congregation,  larger  or  smaller,  of 
devout  men,  or  proselytes,  as  they  were  called,  who  had 
left  the  idols  of  their  fathers,  and  worshipped  the  great 
Jehovah.  But  with  these  exceptions  the  whole  earth  was 
lying  dead  in  darkness  and  in  wickedness.  Even  the  city 
of  Athens,  which  among  the  heathens  passed  for  the  light 
of  the  world,  was  wholly  given  up  to  idolatry.  The  account 
which  we  read  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  applied,  under 
one  form  or  other,  to  all  the  Gentiles  :  "  they  had  changed 
the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made  like 
to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts, 
and  even  to  creeping  things."  Their  souls  were  bound  to 
the  footstool  of  any  dumb  idol  that  chance  had  set  up 
among  them. 

Why  do  I  speak  of  these  things  to  you  ?  For  the  same 
reason  which  led  St.  Paul  to  speak  of  them  to  the  Ephe- 
sians :  to  remind  you  of  the  fearful  depths  of  evil,  out  of 
which  through  God's  mercy  you  have  been  brought,  that 


THE   EPIPHANY. 


91 


your  hearts  may  be  stirred  to  thankfulness,  and  that,  feeHng 
how  much  you  owe  to  God  for  his  goodness,  you  may  be 
roused  to  do  your  best  towards  paying  off  your  great  debt 
of  love  to  him,  by  giving  yourself  up  to  his  service,  and 
striving  to  walk  before  him  in  holiness  and  righteousness. 
For  we  too  are  not  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  after  the  flesh  : 
we  too  by  birth  are  Gentiles,  as  the  Ephesians  were  :  and  if 
the  mercy  of  God  had  not  been  revealed  to  our  forefathers, 
as  well  as  to  them, — if  our  forefathers,  having  sometimes 
been  far  off,  had  not  been  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
— we  at  this  day  should  still  be  what  they  were,  and  what 
so  many  millions  of  idolaters  m  all  quarters  of  the  world  are 
even  now :  we  should  be  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise :  we 
should  be  without  hope,  and  without  God,  even  in  the 
midst  of  God's  own  world.  But,  blessed  be  God  !  it  pleased 
him  to  call  our  fathers  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Nay,  it  has  pleased  him  to  enrich  them  with 
one  spiritual  blessing  after  another,  and  to  exalt  them  with 
religious  privileges  and  religious  knowledge,  not  merely 
above  the  heathens,  but,  I  might  almost  say,  above  every 
other  christian  people.  Moreover  they  have  been  allowed 
to  hand  down  those  religious  privileges,  a  rich  and  precious 
inheritance,  the  richest  and  most  precious  of  all  earthly 
inheritances,  to  us,  their  children  ;  and  we  are  now  enjoying 
them.  At  least  it  is  our  own  fault,  our  own  sin,  if  we  are 
not. 

Thoughts  of  this  kind  can  never  be  out  of  season ;  for  it 
can  never  be  out  of  season  to  meditate  on  the  great  mercies 
that  God  has  vouchsafed  to  us.  But  they  are  more  especially 
fitted  for  the  festival  we  are  this  day  celebrating.  To-day 
is  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany,  as  it  is  called,  that  is,  of  the 
manifestation  or  shewing  forth, — a  feast  kept  in  remem- 
brance of  the  great  and  glorious  day,  when  Christ  was  first 


92  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

manifested  and  shewn  to  the  Gentiles.  In  the  Gospel  for 
the  day  we  read  how  it  pleased  God,  by  means  of  a  won- 
derful star,  to  make  the  birth  of  Jesus  known  to  the  wise 
men,  and  how  they  came  from  their  own  country  in  the 
East  to  Jerusalem,  and  how  the  words  on  their  lips,  when 
they  got  there,  were,  "  Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the 
Jews?  For  we  have  seen  his  star  in  the  East,  and  are 
come  to  worship  him."  Nor  did  they  come  empty-handed. 
According  to  the  prophecy  in  the  72nd  Psalm,  that  the 
kings  of  Arabia  and  Saba  should  bring  gifts,  they  had 
brought  the  riches  of  those  very  countries,  which  abound  in 
gold  and  spices,  to  offer  to  the  new-born  King.  And 
where,  and  how  did  they  find  him  ?  In  a  splendid  palace, 
in  the  midst  of  a  mighty  city,  surrounded  by  guards,  with 
the  lords  and  ladies  of  the  land  taking  pride  in  waiting 
upon  him  ?  He  was  in  a  small  house,  in  the  petty  village 
of  Bethlehem,  with  nobody  to  nurse  or  tend  him  but  his 
virgin  mother.  Had  they  arrived  a  little  sooner,  they 
would  have  found  him,  as  the  shepherds  did,  in  a  stable. 
But  probably  some  kind-hearted  person  had  been  moved 
with  pity  for  the  Virgin's  forlorn  condition,  and  had  taken 
her  in  with  her  babe  :  for  we  read,  that,  when  the  wise  men 
came  to  the  spot  over  which  the  star  stood  still,  they  went 
into  the  house,  and  saw — what  ? — only  a  young  child,  with 
its  mother,  holding  it  in  her  arms,  or  sitting  by  it,  and 
perhaps  praying  over  it,  with  the  humble  anxious  fervour  of 
a  pious  mother's  prayer.  Now  was  the  time  when  the  wise 
men  showed  themselves  to  be  most  truly  wise.  They  were 
wise,  after  the  wisdom  of  their  own  country,  when  they  were 
standing  night  after  night  on  their  w^atch-tower,  following 
the  stars  in  their  glorious  courses.  They  were  wise,  when, 
at  the  sight  of  the  new  star, — which  reminded  them,  it  may 
be,  of  the  great  prophecy  uttered  by  Balaam,  that  a  star 
should  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  sceptre  should  rise  out  of 


THE    EPIPHANY.  93 


Israel, — they  undertook  a  long  and  weary  journey  to  offer 
their  homage  to  the  promised  king.  But  wise  as  they  were 
at  the  beginning  of  their  journey,  their  wisdom  shone  still 
brighter  at  the  end  of  it.  They  shewed  the  greatest  wisdom, 
— because  they  shewed  the  greatest  faith, — when  they  had 
reached  the  house  and  entered  in.  How  many  would  have 
been  scandalized  and  shocked  at  the  mean  appearance  of  the 
infant !  How  many  would  have  been  troubled  with  doubts, 
and  would  have  begun  to  say  within  themselves,  "Surely  there 
must  be  some  mistake  here  :  this  child  can  never  be  born  a 
king  ! "  How  many  again  would  have  felt  their  pride  hurt,  and 
would  have  been  half  angry,  half  ashamed,  at  having  taken 
such  a  long  journey  to  see  a  poor  child  in  a  cottage  !  But  the 
wise  men  felt  none  of  this  false  pride,  none  of  this  false 
shame.  They  knew  that  they  might  trust  the  star  :  the  star 
and  its  Maker  could  not  lie.  Therefore  they  trusted  it  to  the 
utmost,  notwithstanding  that  all  which  met  their  eyes  would 
have  led  them  to  think  its  tidings  could  not  be  true.  When 
they  saw  it  stop  over  a  cottage  at  Bethlehem,  mean  as  the 
place  was,  they  rejoiced  with  exceeding  great  joy;  and 
when  they  were  come  in,  and  saw  the  young  child,  with 
Mary  his  mother,  they  fell  down, — these  princes  and  wise 
men  fell  down  in  the  lowliness  of  their  wisdom; — and 
although  he  whom  they  beheld  was  reputed  to  be  nothing 
more  than  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  yet  under  his  form  they 
worshipped  the  Saviour  and  the  Maker  of  the  world.  "  And 
they  opened  their  treasures,  and  presented  gifts  to  him,  gold, 
and  frankincense,  and  myrrh ; "  thereby  fulfilling  the  pro- 
phecy in  the  72nd  Psalm,  that  "to  him  shall  be  given  of  the 
gold  of  Arabia,"  and  that,  which  you  heard  in  the  lesson  from 
Isaiah,  that  "  they  from  Sheba  shall  bring  gold  and  incense." 
But  to  return  to  the  main  subject  of  my  sermon :  Avhy  is 
the  story  of  these  wise  men  of  such  interest  and  importance 
to  us,  that  the  Church  has  thought  fit  that  a  day  in  every 


94  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

year  should  be  set  apart  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of 
Christ's  manifestation  to  them  ?  Because  in  manifesting 
himself  to  the  wise  men,  Our  Saviour  manifested  himself 
to  the  Gentiles.  They  were  the  first-fruits  of  the  Gentile 
world,  who  came  to  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness. Therefore,  in  rejoicing,  as  the  Church  does  on  this 
day,  that  God  was  pleased,  by  the  leading  of  a  star,  to 
manifest  Jesus  to  the  Gentiles,  we  should  likewise  feel  a 
thankful  joy  that  he  was  manifested  to  our  forefathers,  and 
through  them  has  been  made  known  to  us.  We  should  bear 
in  mind  that  we  have  had  Christ  shewn  to  us,  not  in  his 
cradle,  but,  I  might  almost  say,  in  our  own  cradles.  Almost 
from  our  cradles  upward  have  we  been  taught  to  know 
Christ,  and  to  love  him.  We  have  had  no  toilsome  journey 
to  take  in  search  of  him  :  he  is  near  to  us,  even  at  our  very 
doors.  We  have  had  no  questions  to  ask,  like  the  wise 
men,  when  they  came  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  find  out  the 
King  of  the  Jews.  Go  east,  or  west,  or  north,  or  south, 
into  every  corner  of  this  favoured  land  ;  in  every  parish  you 
will  find  a  church,  and  in  thousands  of  cottages  you  will 
find  New  Testaments,  to  shew  you  the  plain  straight  way  to 
Jesus,  the  King  of  the  world.  Nor  is  our  faith  put  to  the 
trial  of  seeing  our  King  in  the  guise  of  a  poor  infant.  The 
same  book,  which  tells  us  that  Jesus  was  laid  in  a  mianger, 
and  brought  up  under  the  roof  of  a  village  carpenter,  tells 
us  also  that  he  was  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  that  he 
was  the  first-born  before  every  creature,  and  that,  as  a 
recompense  for  his  taking  our  nature  upon  him,  and  sub- 
mitting to  the  death  of  the  cross,  God  hath  highly  exalted 
him,  and  given  him  a  name  above  every  name,  that  at  his 
name  every  knee  should  bow,  not  only  in  earth,  but  in 
heaven  also,  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  (Phil, 
ii.  9 — II.)     All  these  things  we  have  heard  from  our  very 


THE    EPIPHANY.  95 


childhood.  Christ  has  never  been  made  known  to  us, 
except  as  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  who  came  down  to  earth 
for  a  time  on  the  errand  of  our  redemption,  but  whose  true 
and  right  home  is  heaven,  where  he  is  now  sitting  at  the 
right  hand  of  God. 

Is  it  a  small  thing,  my  brethren,  to  have  had  all  this 
revealed  to  us  ?  Remember,  "  many  prophets  and  righteous 
men  have  desired  to  see  the  things  which  we  see,  and  have 
not  seen  them."  (Matt.  xifi.  17.)  Yet  to  us  they  have  been 
made  known  from  the  hour  when  we  began  to  talk.  Without 
our  seeking,  they  have  come  to  us.  They  have  been  forced 
upon  us.  We  could  not  shut  our  eyes  and  ears  to  them  if 
we  would.  Is  it  a  small  thing  to  have  been  made  nigh  to 
God,  by  the  blood  of  his  only  Son  ? — we,  whose  fathers  at 
one  time  were  far  off,  and  neither  knew  God,  nor  wished  to 
know  him.  Just  think  for  a  few  moments,  out  of  what  a 
state  we  have  been  delivered,  by  being  called  to  the  know- 
ledge of  our  God  and  Saviour, — by  being  born  here,  in  this 
Christian  Protestant  land,  instead  of  under  heathen  darkness. 

"We  should  have  been  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise.  It  has 
pleased  Almighty  God  to  set  up  a  spiritiial  kingdom  upon 
earth,  and  to  make  gracious  promises  to  all  the  people  of 
his  kingdom,  that  is,  to  every  member  of  his  Church.  He 
has  entered  into  a  covenant  with  them  by  sacrifice,  even  by 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  Now  would  it  not  be  a 
misery  to  have  been  shut  out  from  God's  earthly  kingdom  ? 
to  have  no  share  in  God's  promises  ?  to  be  excluded  from 
the  covenant  which  he  has  made  with  his  people  and  his 
servants?  Would  not  this  be  a  grievous  misery?  My 
belief  is,  that  we  cannot  in  this  life  fathom  all  the  depths  of 
this  misery.  We  know,  and  may  understand,  how  much 
worse  it  is  to  be  born  a  slave,  than  to  be  born  free, — 
how  much  worse  it  must  be  to  be  born  a  savage,  than  to 


g6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

come  into  life  and  be  bred  up  in  a  civilized,  orderly,  quiet 
land.  This  we  may  all  of  us  in  some  measure  understand. 
But  the  woe  it  would  be  to  a  man  to  be  born  a  heathen, 
instead  of  a  Christian,  we  cannot  fully  make  out,  until  we 
are  let  in  to  see  the  secrets  of  eternity. 

Still  there  are  two  things  mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  which 
may  give  us  some  notion  of  the  wretched  forlorn  state  of 
such  as  are  far  off  without  Christ.  He  tells  us,  that  they 
are  without  hope,  and  without  God.  So  too  should  we  have 
been,  if  we  had  been  born  heathens.  If  the  star  of  the 
Gospel  had  not  shone  in  the  eyes  of  our  fathers,  and  called 
them  to  worship  Christ,  we  too  should  have  been  born 
without  hope  and  without  God.  Now  cast  in  your  minds, 
how  much  would  you  strike  off  from  every  good  man's 
happiness,  if  you  took  away  his  hope  and  his  God  from  him  ? 
Surely  there  is  no  one  here,  who,  however  faulty  his  practice 
may  be,  would  consent  to  part  with  his  hope,  and  to  give 
up  his  knowledge  of  God,  that  he  might  go  and  be  a  king 
among  the  heathens.  So  that  the  poorest  man  in  a  christian 
land  is  infinitely  better  off  than  the  richest  and  most  powerful 
in  the  countries  where  Christ  is  not  known.  For  they  who 
are  far  off  and  without  Christ,  are  doomed  to  live  without 
those  hopes,  which  are  far  more  precious  than  the  crown  of 
a  king,  and  without  that  knowledge  of  God,  which  is  far 
mightier  than  the  sceptre  of  a  king.  Being  without  Christ, 
they  are  without  God.  For  it  is  only  through  Christ  that 
we  can  come  to  God,  even  to  know  him,  much  more  to  love 
him,  and  to  obey  him.  All  who  are  without  Christ  must 
needs  be  without  God.  And  what  is  man  without  God? 
He  is  like  a  ship  tossed  about  on  a  stormy  sea,  without 
chart  or  compass.  The  ship  drifts  as  the  waves  carry  it : 
the  night  is  dark  :  the  pilot  knows  not  which  way  to  steer  : 
he  may  be  close  to  rocks  and  quicksands  :  perhaps  a  flash 
of  lightning  falls  on  a  rock,  or  he  hears  the  waves  breaking 


THE    EPIPHANY.  97 


over  it.  But  how  shall  he  escape  ?  or  how  prepare  to  meet 
the  danger?  Shall  he  trust  in  Providence?  What  Pro- 
vidence has  he  to  trust  in  ?  Poor  man  !  he  is  without  God. 
Shall  he  throw  out  an  anchor?  But  he  has  no  anchor  :  he 
wants  the  best  and  only  fast  anchor, — hope,  the  anchor  of 
the  soul.  Such  is  the  state  of  man,  when  he  is  far  off, 
without  a  God  to  trust  in,  without  hope  to  comfort  and 
support  him.  But  give  the  same  man  a  true  and  Hvely 
faith  in  Christ, — tell  him  of  a  merciful  and  loving  Father, 
who  careth  for  us,  and  would  have  us  cast  all  our  cares 
upon  him, — shew  him  that  hope  which  is  firm  to  the  end ; 
and  straightway  you  make  a  happy  man  of  him.  You  give 
him  a  course  to  steer  :  you  give  him  a  chart  and  compass 
to  guide  him ;  you  give  him  an  anchor  which  will  enable 
him  to  withstand  the  buffeting  of  every  storm :  you  insure 
him  against  shipwreck ;  and  you  assure  him  of  a  blessed 
haven,  where  at  length  he  will  arrive  and  be  at  rest. 

Such  is  a  slight  outline  of  the  difference  between  Gentiles, 
or  heathens,  and  Christians, — between  those  who  are  far  ofif, 
and  those  who  are  nigh  :  or  rather,  to  speak  more  correctly 
and  more  profitably,  such  may  be  the  difierence  between 
them.  But  as,  in  receiving  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
the  danger  is  declared  to  be  great,  if  we,  receive  the  same 
unworthily,  so  is  it  with  the  privileges  of  the  christian  cove- 
nant. *  The  danger  attending  them  is  likewise  great,  if  we 
receive  them  unthankfuUy  and  unworthily, — if  we  put  them 
to  a  bad  use,  or  to  no  use, — if,  being  born  nigh  to  Christ, 
we  choose  to  depart  from  him  like  the  Prodigal  Son  into  a 
far  country, — if,  bearing  the  name  of  Christ,  we  live  the  life 
of  heathens. 

The  danger,  if  we  live  thus,  is  great.  For  in  so  living  we 
are  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  our  Saviour.  It 
is  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  apostle  expressly  says,  that  we 
are  made  nigh.     If  then,  having  been  bought  at  such  a 

H 


98  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

price,  and  brought  out  of  a  world  where  we  were  without 
God,  to  the  very  foot  of  God's  throne,  we  throw  away  the 
inestimable  advantages  thus  vouchsafed  to  us,— if  we  run 
off  from  the  foot  of  God's  throne,  and  go  and  hide  ourselves 
in  one  of  those  caverns  of  sin  which  are  yawning  on  every 
side  of  us, — do  we  not  shew  that  we  neither  prize  the 
privileges  obtained  for  us,  nor  regard  the  price  which  Jesus 
paid  for  them  ?  Assuredly  we  thereby  prove  that  we  think 
no  more  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  wherewith  we  have  been 
sanctified,  than  if  it  were  so  much  common  blood.  We 
prove,  to  use  the  awful  language  of  the  apostle,  that  we  count 
the  blood  of  the  covenant  an  unholy  thing.  (Heb.  x.  29.) 

Such  behaviour  moreover  is  utterly  inexcusable.  The 
heathen  may  plead  that  he  has  rarely,  if  ever,  heard  of 
Christ,  and  that,  having  been  bred  up  in  a  different  religion, 
he  had  many  strong  prejudices  to  fight  against  and  over- 
come, before  he  could  embrace  the  Gospel :  and  these 
pleas,  so  far  as  they  are  brought  forward  in  sincerity,  God, 
we  may  be  sure,  will  mercifully  listen  to.  The  heathen,  I 
say,  may  plead  this  excuse.  But  we, — what  excuse  have 
we  to  plead  ?  we,  who  have  been  born  beneath  the  full  sun- 
shine of  Gospel  truth, — we,  who  have  been  bred  up,  as  it 
were,  in  the  innermost  chamber  of  God's  earthly  temple, — 
we,  who  have  been  mercifully  placed  within  the  skirts  of 
Christ's  glory.  What  excuse  can  we  plead  for  not  beHeving 
in  him,  for  not  loving  him,  for  not  obeying  him?  You 
cannot, — none  of  you  can  plead  ignorance.  In  the  New 
Testament  you  have  the  best  teachers  that  ever  lived,  the 
Son  of  God  himself,  and  his  chosen  apostles.  You  have 
had  the  Scriptures  read  to  you,  you  have  had  them  explained 
to  you,  from  your  very  childhood ;  and  they  contain  the 
words  of  eternal  life.  Ignorance  then  you  can  in  no  wise 
plead  :  for  none  need  be  ignorant,  unless  they  choose  it. 
Will  any  of  you  plead  your  small  capacity  ?  your  want  of 


THE    EPIPHANY.  99 


opportunity?  To  ensure  you  plenty  of  opportunity,  God 
has  kept  one  day  for  himself  out  of  every  seven,  on  purpose 
that  the  very  busiest,  that  even  those  who  are  forced  to 
work  all  day  long  for  their  bread,  may  have  an  abundance 
of  time  for  learning  to  know  his  will.  As  for  dullness  of 
understanding,  it  is  not  a  sharp  or  strong  head  that  is 
wanted  to  make  a  Christian,  but  a  sincere  and  honest  heart. 
Only  be  earnest  in  seeking  the  true  and  right  way  :  you  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  finding  it. 

But  perhaps  you  will  say  that  your  nature  is  weak,  and 
prone  to  sin.  True,  most  true,  it  is  so :  and  therefore  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  has  deigned  to  promise  that  he 
will  come  down  from  heaven  to  us,  and  dwell  with  us,  and 
strengthen  us  against  all  our  infirmities.  However  weak 
we  may  be  in  ourselves,  surely  he  can  make  us  strong 
enough.  Away  then  with  all  such  excuses  !  Those  who 
do  not  serve  Christ  in  this  country,  do  not,  because  they 
will  not.  He  has  called  them, — time  after  time  he  has 
called  them  ; — but  they  will  not  come.  He  has  placed 
them  near  him  :  but  they  will  not  stay.  They  will  not 
accept  eternal  life  from  him  on  the  gracious  terms  on  which 
he  has  offered  it.  No,  they  cry  in  their  madness,  let  us 
have  hell  instead.  No,  they  still  cry,  when  Christ  is  set 
before  them,  we  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us. 
Our  lusts  shall  reign  over  us ;  our  vices  shall  reign  over  us ; 
our  enmities  shall  reign  over  ns ;  covetousness  shall  reign 
over  us :  there  is  nothing  so  paltry,  so  vile,  so  foul,  so  hate- 
ful, but  we  will  set  it  up  to  be  our  king,  rather  than  the 
King  of  heaven.  What  is  this  but  sinning  with  our  eyes 
open  ?  What  is  it  but  crucifying  the  Son  of  God,  and  not 
the  Son  of  man  ?  What  is  it  but  saying,  like  the  Jews,  Not 
Jesus,  but  Barabbas  ? 

My  brethren,  it  is  an  awful  thing  to  slight  the  gifts,  and 
to  trample  on  the  blessings  of  the  living  God.     As  sure  as 


lOO  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

God  liveth,  it  shall  not  be  done  for  ever  with  impunity. 
He  has  chosen  us  Englishmen,  as  he  chose  the  Jews  of  old 
he  has  given  us  a  birthright  in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel 
he  has  bound  himself  to  us  by  the  covenant  of  promise 
he  has  made  us  nigh  by  the  blood  of  his  Son.  He  has 
enriched  us  with  every  opportunity  of  learning  his  will.  He 
has  ordained  that  no  hand  of  man  shall  hinder  us  in  doing 
it.  He  has  scattered  the  seed  of  his  word  through  the  land 
with  an  abundance  elsewhere  unheard  of.  Blessed  be  his 
name  for  all  his  blessings  to  us  !  If  we  despise  them  how- 
ever, if  we  turn  our  backs  on  them,  if  we  defile  the  blood 
of  the  covenant,  by  mingling  it  with  our  sacrifices  to  the 
idols  of  our  lusts, — God's  judgments  on  Jerusalem  will 
then  be  but  a  weak  type  of  his  more  fearful  judgments 
upon  us :  upon  us,  I  say, — upon  you,  and  me,  and  whoso- 
ever may  be  guilty  of  refusing  this  great  salvation.  There- 
fore, my  beloved  brethren,  do  not  reject  the  proffered 
mercies  of  your  God,  which,  being  rejected,  turn  to  curses. 
But  put  them  to  a  right  use.  Make  them  the  seeds  and  the 
forerunners  of  still  greater  blessings,  which  he  is  waiting 
and  longing  to  bestow  on  you.  As  you  have  been  brought 
nigh  to  Christ,  strive  daily  to  come  nearer  and  nearer  to 
him ;  nor  slacken  your  eftorts  until  you  have  become  one 
with  him  in  his  heavenly  glory. 


IX. 

REPENTANCE. 

Genesis  xix.  17. 

Escape  for  thy  life :  escape  to  the  mountain,  lest  thou  be 
consumed. 

HTHERE  is  a  time  to  laugh,  says  the  Preacher  :  and  there 
-■-  is  also  a  time  to  weep.  This  we  all  know  to  be  true 
with  regard  to  the  affairs  of  this  world.  Among  the  events 
that  befall  us  in  the  course  of  our  Hves,  there  are  some  that 
make  the  heart  glad,  and  others  that  wring  it  with  anguish. 
So  too  in  our  spiritual  life,  in  the  matters  that  concern  our 
souls,  are  there  seasons  for  godly  joy,  and  seasons  likewise 
for  godly  sorrow.  For  many  are  the  engines  which  God 
sets  at  work  in  order  to  bring  us  to  him.  Sometimes  he 
draws  us  toward  him  with  the  cords  of  love,  which  have 
mostly  the  strongest  hold  on  gende  spirits.  At  other  times 
he  sends  judgments  and  visitations  of  various  kinds  to  warn 
us,  that  a  wholesome  fear  may  be  wrought  in  our  minds, 
and  that '  we  may  flee  in  time  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
When  we  look  at  what  God  has  done  and  is  ever  doing  for 
us,  at  the  many  marvellous  proofs  of  his  mercy,  the  many 
glorious  offers  of  salvation  set  before  us,  we  may  well  be 
joyful  in  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  with  gladness.  When  on 
the  other  hand  we  turn  our  eyes  inward,  and  consider  how 


I02  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

we  have  behaved  toward  God, — when  we  think  of  the  deaf 
ear  we  have  so  often  turned  to  those  offers  of  salvation,  of 
the  stubbornness  with  which  we  have  shut  our  eyes  against 
those  proofs  of  mercy, — our  sins  and  our  ingratitude  may 
well  cover  us  with  sorrow  and  shame. 

Hence  it  is  right  and  fitting  that  we  should  have  seasons 
set  apart  more  especially  for  spiritual  joy,  when  our  chief 
employment  may  be  thanksgiving  to  God  for  all  that  he  has 
done  for  us,  and  seasons  for  spiritual  sorrow,  wherein  we 
may  confess  our  sins,  and  mourn  over  them,  and  repent  of 
them.  Therefore  the  Church  has  appointed  set  times, 
when,  as  the  year  rolls  round,  these  duties  are  to  be  brought 
solemnly  before  us.  One  great  season  for  holy  joy  and 
thanksgiving  is  Christmas,  which  we  have  lately  passed 
through.  The  chief  season  for  sorrow  and  repentance  is 
Lent,  on  which  we  are  now  entering.  Such  then  being  the 
purpose  of  the  Church  in  ordaining  that  the  forty  days  of 
Lent  should  be  observed  in  a  particular  manner, — repent- 
ance being  the  feeUng  which  she  designs  should  at  this 
season  be  uppermost  in  the  hearts  of  her  members, — it  be- 
hoves us  to  consider  what  repentance  is,  and  why  it  is  of 
such  importance,  that  so  large  a  portion  of  every  year  should 
be  set  apart  for  it. 

What  then  is  repentance  ?  You  will  perhaps  tell  me,  it 
is  the  being  sorry  for  having  done  wrong.  This  however  is 
far  from  enough.  The  apostle  speaks  of  "  a  godly  sorrow 
which  worketh  repentance ;"  so  that  repentance  must  be 
something  different  from  sorrow,  even  from  a  godly  sorrow. 
It  is  the  fruit  of  a  godly  sorrow.  When  there  is  anything 
about  us,  that  afflicts  us  and  makes  us  grieve,  we  naturally 
wish,  if  possible,  to  be  quit  of  it ;  and  the  more  grievous 
our  affliction,  the  stronger  is  our  desire  to  get  rid  of  that 
which  causes  it.  Accordingly,  if  we  are  stirred  with  a  hearty 
and  godly  sorrow  for  having  turned  away  from  God,  and 


REPENTANCE.  .  103 


given  ourselves  up  to  sin,  we  must  needs  desire  to  forsake 
our  sins,  and  to  turn  from  them  to  God.     This,  at  the  very 
least,  is  necessary  to  make  up  anything  that  can  claim  to  be 
called  repentance.     When  the  angel  came  to  Lot  in  Sodom, 
what  did  he  tell  him  ?     To  grieve  over  the  sins  of  Sodom? 
Had  Lot  done  no  more  than  this,  he  would  have  perished 
in  the  destruction  of  Sodom.     The  angel  bade  him  flee  out 
of  Sodom,  and  escape  for  his  life :  he  bade  him  flee  to  the 
mountain,  lest  he  should  be  consumed.     He  who  sincerely  ; 
and  heartily  repents  of  his  sins,  will  not  be  content  to  tarry  \ 
in  the  midst  of  them,  nor  even  in  the  plain  in  their  neigh-  j 
bourhood  :  he  will  endeavour  to  escape  to  the  mountain ; 
he  will  strive  to  climb  up  God's  hill,  the  holy  hill  of  Sion. ' 
It  is  a  very  common,  and  a  very  sad  mistake,  for  people  to 
fancy  that,  when  they  are  sorry  for  their  sins,  when  they 
abuse  sin,  and  condemn  it,  and  regret  that  they  have  fallen 
into  it,   they  are  repenting.     But  it  is  not  so.     We  may 
speak  ill  of  a  thing  with  our  lips  ;  and  yet  our  hearts  may 
cleave  to  it  all  the  while.     So  long  as  we  continue  in  sin, 
so  long  at  least  as  we  do  not  strive  to  get  out  of  it,  there  is 
no  jot  of  true  repentance  in  our  hearts.    For  the  repentance 
which  is  wrought  by  a  godly  sorrow,  is  a  repentance  unto 
salvation :  but  a  repentance  which  did  not  move  us  to  for- 
sake our  sins,  would  be  a  repentance  unto  destruction.    We 
should  be  destroyed  along  with  them,  even  as  Lot  would 
have  been  destroyed  if  he  had  stayed  in  Sodom.    Hear  what 
the  prophet  Isaiah  says,  when  he  is  exhorting  the  people  to 
repentance.     "  Wsish.  you  ;  make  you  clean  :  put  away  the 
evil  of  your  doings:  cease  to  do   evil;  learn  to  do  well" 
(i.  16).    In  like  manner  John  the  Baptist,  when  he  preached 
repentance,  laid  the  stress  of  his  sermon  on  the  fruits  of 
repentance.     It  was  not  enough,  he  said  to  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees,  to  come  and  be  baptized,  and  to  confess 
their  sins :   they  were  also   to  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for 


I04  '  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

repentance :  for  every  tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good 
fruit, — I  pray  you,  brethren,  mark  his  words  :  he  does  not 
say,  every  tree  which  brings  forth  bad  fruit,  but  every  tree 
which  does  not  bring  forth  good  fruit, — every  barren  tree, 
every  tree  that  bears  nothing,  is  to  be  cut  down,  just  as 
much  as  the  vine  spoken  of  by  the  prophet,  which  brought 
forth  wild  and  poisonous  grapes.  Both  are  to  be  hewn 
down  by  the  axe  of  justice :  both  are  to  be  cast  into  the 
fire. 

Indeed,  the  very  words  in  the  original,  which  in  our 
Bible  are  rendered  by  the  English  words  repent  and  repent- 
ance,— the  very  words  by  which  the  Evangelists  describe  the 
preaching  of  the  Baptist,  and  that  of  our  Lord  himself, — 
mean  far  more  than  is  usually  understood  by  the  English 
words  that  answer  to  them.  The  original  word  means  a 
change  of  mind,  a  change  of  heart,  a  change  of  thought 
and  of  feeling.  Therefore  when  you  read  or  hear  any  of 
our  Saviour's  gracious  promises  of  forgiveness  to  those  who 
will  repent,  you  must  understand  them  as  applying  solely  to 
those  who  have.begun  to  lay  aside  their  old  thoughts  about 
sin,  and  to  look  at  it,  not  according  to  the  evil  customs  of 
the  world,  but  according  to  the  law  of  God.  So  long  as  a 
man  asks,  "  What  great  harm  can  there  be  in  this  or  that 
thing?"  when  God  has  forbidden  it;  so  long  as  he  sayi^ 
"I  am  very  sorry  for  what  I  do,  but  I  can't  help  it;" 
so  long  as  he  comforts  himself  with  the  thought  that  he 
is  no  worse  than  other  men ; — so  long  is  he  only  deceiv- 
ing himself  to  his  ruin,  by  applying  Christ's  promises 
of  forgiveness  to  his  own  case.  Christ's  promises  are  to 
those  whose  minds  are  changed.  Is  that  man's  mind 
.changed,  who  does  not  see  the  great  harm,  the  shame,  the 
guilt,  the  danger  of  disobeying  God  ?  Is  that  man's  mind 
changed,  who  says  he  cannot  help  his  sins?  when  Jesus 
Christ  came  from  heaven  on  purpose  to  bring  him  help,  and 


REPENTANCE.  105 


to  enable  him  to  live  unto  righteousness.  As  for  that  habit 
of  comparing  ourselves  with  other  men,  and  comforting  our- 
selves if  we  find  that  we  are  not  worse  than  they,  among  all 
the  deadly  snares  which  Satan  is  ever  setting  for  souls, 
hardly  any  is  more  destructive,  hardly  any  catches  more 
victims,  and  entangles  them  in  sin  and  death,  than  this  very 
temptation  by  which  he  beguiles  us  into  measuring  our- 
selves among  ourselves,  and  comparing  ourselves  one  with 
another,  instead  of  trying  our  lives  and  actions  by  the  only 
true  test,  the  word  of  God.  In  a  word,  unless  we  are 
heartily  desirous  to  forsake  sin, — and  to  forsake  it  too  on 
right  grounds,  not  because  it  may  hurt  our  welfare  in  this 
world,  but  because  it  is  hateful  to  God, — unless  we  do  our 
best  to  flee  from  sin,  it  is  a  mere  pretence  to  say  that  we 
repent.  There  may  be  momentary  pangs  of  sorrow ;  there 
may  be  stings  of  remorse ;  there  may  be  a  fear  of  punish- 
ment ;  but,  unless  the  remorse  makes  us  hate  sin,  unless 
the  fear  makes  us  turn  to  God,  unless  the  sorrow  settles 
down  into  an  earnest  desire  of  leading  pure  and  righteous 
lives  in  future,  we  are  not  among  the  number  of  those  who 
have  given  heed  to  the  cry  calling  them  to  repentance;  and 
it  will  be  no  blessing  to  us  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
come. 

This  brings  me  to  consider  why  we  are  to  repent.  Not 
on  account  of  any  pleasure  or  satisfaction  found  in  the  work 
of  repentance  itself.  I  will  not  conceal  from  you  that  the 
duty  of  repentance  is  neither  easy  nor  pleasant.  The  very 
name  given  to  the  first  day  of  Lent  shows  that  this  was  not 
designed  to  be  a  season  for  gladness.  It  is  called,  as  you 
know,  Ash  Wednesday ;  because  on  that  day  the  Christians 
in  former  ages  used  to  sprinkle  their  heads  and  cross  their 
foreheads  with  ashes,  saying  one  to  another,  "Remember, 
O  man,  that  thou  art  ashes,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return." 
To  cover  the  head  with  ashes  was  regarded  of  old  as  a  mark 


I06  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

of  the  deepest  sorrow.  Thus  we  read  that  Tamar  in  her 
grievous  affliction  put  ashes  on  her  head.  Thus,  when  the 
wicked  Haman  had  persuaded  Ahasuerus  to  send  forth  a 
decree  against  the  Jews,  Mordecai  rent  his  clothes,  and  put 
on  sackcloth  with  ashes :  and  in  every  province  there  was 
great  mourning  among  the  Jews,  fasting,  and  weeping,  and 
wailing;  and  many  lay  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  In  like 
manner,  when  Jonah  preached  repentance  to  the  people  of 
Nineveh,  the  king  arose  from  his  throne,  and  laid  his  robe 
from  him,  and  covered  him  with  sackcloth,  and  sat  in  ashes. 
And  you  cannot  but  remember  our  Saviour's  words,  in 
which  he  cries,  "  Woe  to  Chorazin  !  and  woe  to  Bethsaida  ! 
for,  if  the  mighty  works  done  in  them  had  been  done  in 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  they  would  have  repented  long  ago  in 
sackcloth  and  ashes."  Thus  has  repentance  ever  been 
deemed  a  thing  sad  and  painful  and  humiliating ;  and  thus, 
when  we  repent,  must  we  too,  like  the  king  of  Nineveh, 
strip  off  all  the  pride  of  our  nature,  all  that  the  flesh  and  the 
eye  delight  in,  to  cast  ourselves  on  the  ground,  and  to  cover 
ourselves  with  the  bitter  ashes  of  our  former  pleasures.  Nor 
does  our  blessed  Master  ever  speak  of  repentance  except  as 
a  thing  hard  to  flesh  and  blood.  You  remember  his  words 
about  John  the  Baptist,  the  great  preacher  of  repentance : 
"  What  went  ye  out  to  see  ?  a  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment  ? 
Behold  they  that  wear  soft  clothing  are  in  kings'  houses." 
The  preacher  of  repentance  is  not  among  those  who  wear 
soft  clothing.  His  dwelling  is  in  the  wilderness ;  and  they 
who  give  heed  to  his  preaching,  must  also  go  forth  into  the 
wilderness.  They  must  deny  all  that  they  have  hitherto 
been  accustomed  to  pamper,  and  must  forsake  all  where- 
with they  have  hitherto  pampered  themselves.  They  must 
curb  their  tempers :  they  must  fortify  their  inclinations  : 
they  must  be  content  to  fare  without  the  comforts  and  in- 
dulgences to  which  they  have  been  used  all  their  lives. 


REPENTANCE. 


107 


Pains  must  be  taken,  sacrifices  must  be  made,  by  all  who 
would  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate.  Restraints  must  be  borne, 
self-denial  must  be  practised,  by  all  who  desire  to  recover 
from  the  deadly  disease  of  sin.  It  can  hardly  be  necessary 
to  remind  you,  what  a  tedious  work  it  is  to  recover  from  a 
severe  and  dangerous  illness, — what  a  long  time  it  takes, — 
how  much  care  is  needed  to  keep  us  from  falling  back,  and 
losing  the  little  ground  we  have  gained.  In  how  many  ways 
is  the  sick  man  compelled  to  deny  himself !  for  instance,  in 
abstaining  wholly  from  strong  drinks,  and  from  certain  meats, 
which,  when  he  was  well,  did  him  no  harm,  but  which  will 
not  suit  his  present  weakly  state.  The  remedies  too  are 
often  painful,  the  medicines  distasteful.  All  this  care  and 
abstinence  the  sick  man  may  have  to  practise  for  months, 
until  he  has  regained  his  strength.  Nor  is  the  recovery  of 
the  soul  less  difficult  than  that  of  the  body :  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  far  more  difficult,  inasmuch  as  the  malady  is  of 
far  longer  standing.  It  is  far  more  difficult :  it  takes  a  longer 
time :  it  is  still  more  liable  to  be  interrupted  by  relapses : 
it  requires  a  still  more  watchful  self-restraint  and  self- 
denial. 

The  likeness  between  the  diseases  of  the  body  and  those 
of  the  soul  will  also  supply  us  with  an  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion which  I  put  just  now  :  why,  if  repentance  be  so  pain- 
ful, are  we  to  repent  ?  Were  .i  man,  who  was  lying  on  a  bed 
of  sickness,  to  be  asked,  why  he  sent  for  a  physician, — why 
he  took  so  much  nauseous  medicine, — why  he  did  not  eat 
and  drink  like  other  men, — would  he  be  at  a  loss  for  an 
answer  ?  Would  he  not  say  at  once,  "  Because  I  wish  to 
live,  rather  than  to  die ;  so  I  am  taking  the  only  means 
whereby  I  can  hope  to  save  my  life  ?"  Such  should  be  the 
penitent  sinner's  answer,  when  asked  why  he  is  taking  the 
bitter  medicine  of  repentance.  This  question  is  very  likely 
to  be  put  to  him  at  the  outset,  by  his  passions,  which  are  not 


Io8  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

used  to  be  checked, — by  his  will,  which  grows  outrageous  at 
being  curbed, — by  his  former  companions,  who  are  vexed 
to  see  him  quitting,  and  thereby  condemning  them, — by 
every  evil  thing,  in  short,  both  within  him  and  around  him. 
When  such  a  question  is  asked  him,  he  too  should  answer, 
"  Because  I  wish  to  live,  rather  than  to  die,  to  live  for  ever, 
rather  than  to  die  for  ever."  Nothing  can  be  stronger  than 
our  Saviour's  words  on  this  point.  If  our  right  eye  offend 
us,  that  is,  if  it  tempt  us  to  sin, — as  numbers  are  tempted  to 
sin  by  the  lusts  of  the  eye, — we  are  to  pluck  it  out  and  cast 
it  from  us.  If  our  right  hand  prove  a  temptation  to  us,  we 
are  to  cut  it  off.  And  along  with  this  command,  so  hard  to 
flesh  and  blood,  our  Lord  has  been  graciously  pleased  to 
tell  us  the  reason  why  we  are  to  obey  it :  because  it  is  better 
for  us  to  enter  into  life  halt  or  maimed,  or  with  one  eye, 
than  to  be  cast  into  everlasting  fire  with  two  legs,  and  two 
hands,  and  two  eyes. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  the  reason  why  we  are  to  repent  : 
because,  irksome  as  repentance  may  be,  it  is  only  through 
the  strait  gate  that  we  can  enter  into  life.  Does  any  man 
think  of  doubting  whether  recovering  from  sickness  is  a  good 
thing  ?  Did  any  man  in  his  senses  ever  blame  another  for 
choosing  to  get  well  at  whatever  cost  and  trouble,  when  he 
might  have  saved  himself  all  this  annoyance  by  letting  him- 
self be  lifted  out  of  bed  into  his  coffin  ?  for  choosing  to  have 
a  mortified  leg  cut  off,  when  he  might  have  kept  it  on,  and 
become  a  corpse  ?  Nay  further  :  did  any  man  in  his  right 
mind  ever  say,  "  It  is  true,  I  am  very  ill.  Every  day  that  I 
put  off  taking  medicine,  I  grow  worse,  and  there  is  less  and 
less  chance  of  my  recovery.  Notwithstanding  I  will  delay 
getting  well  for  another  twelvemonth ;  and  then  I  will  set 
about  it  in  good  earnest?"  If  such  language  would  be 
downright  madness,  with  regard  to  the  disorders  of  the  body, 
how  comes  it  to  be  less  than  madness  when  used  of  the 


REPENTANCE. 


109 


disorders  of  the  soul  ?  How  comes  it  that  so  many  think 
these  mad  thoughts,  and  speak  these  mad  words,  about 
repentance  ?  How  comes  it  that  so  many  go  on  year  after 
year  putting  off  the  time  of  taking  the  only  medicine,  which 
can  restore  us  through  God's  help  to  our  natural  health,  and 
make  us  ourselves  again  ? 

For  man,  as  he  now  is,  is  not  himself.  He  is  not  what 
God  made  him.  God  made  him  to  lead  a  holy  and  godly 
life;  and  such  is  the  life  to  which  Jesus  Christ  came  to 
restore  him.  This  therefore  is  our  true  nature,  the  nature 
in  which  man  was  made,  the  nature  which  Christ  came  to 
restore.  Sin  however  has  become  a  kind  of  second  nature 
to  us.  In  an  ancient  story-book  we  read  of  a  great  warrior, 
who  was  persuaded  through  the  malice  of  his  enemy  to  put 
on  a  poisoned  robe ;  and  the  robe  stuck  to  his  body,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  pull  it  off,  without  tearing  off  some 
of  the  flesh.  It  stuck  to  him  as  if  it  had  been  glued  on ; 
and  the  poison  ate  into  his  flesh,  and  killed  him.  Thus  is 
it  with  sin.  It  cannot  be  torn  off,  without  drawing  blood 
from  our  souls  :  but  if  we  let  it  remain  on,  it  kills  us.  There- 
fore must  we  tear  it  off,  without  shrinking  or  flinching  from 
the  pain  it  may  cost  us  to  do  so.  We  must  escape  to  the 
mountain;  because  we  are  fleeing  from  Sodom;  and  be- 
cause we  cannot  tarry  in  Sodom  without  being  consumed 
by  its  fire. 

It  is  impossible  to  press  this  point  too  strongly :  so  I 
will  try  to  enforce  what  I  have  said  by  another  parable. 
On  the  seashore,  many  of  you  must  know,  there  are  often 
rocks.  Now  suppose  a  man,  walking  among  these  rocks, 
and  finding  the  stones  painful  to  his  feet,  thinks  he  shall 
walk  more  easily  and  pleasantly  on  the  smooth  sand  below. 
He  quits  the  rocks,  and  goes  down  to  the  sands.  The  tide 
is  out ;  the  sea  is  calm ;  the  waves  are  a  long  way  off :  there 
can  be  no  danger:  so  he  walks  on.     Presently  the  wind 


no  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

begins  to  rise.  Still  there  can  be  no  danger :  it  is  only 
rounding  that  jutting  cliff:  there  is  plenty  of  time;  and 
then  he  will  be  safe.  Meanwhile  the  sea  comes  on, 
gradually,  gradually,  wave  after  wave,  like  so  many  lines  of 
horsemen  in  battle  array  riding  one  after  the  other.  Every 
moment  they  advance  a  step  or  two ;  and  before  the  man 
has  got  to  the  jutting  cliff,  he  sees  them  dashing  against  its 
feet.  What  is  he  to  do  ?  On  one  side  of  him  is  a  steep 
and  rugged  ledge  of  rocks ;  on  the  other  side  the  sea,  which 
the  wind  is  lashing  into  a  storm,  is  rushing  toward  him  with 
all  its  might  and  fury.  Would  a  man  in  such  a  plight  think 
of  losing  another  moment?  Would  he  stop  to  consider, 
whether  he  should  hurt  his  hands  by  laying  hold  of  the 
sharp  stones  ?  Would  not  he  strain  every  nerve  to  reach  a 
place  of  safety,  before  the  waves  could  overtake  him  ?  If 
his  slothfulness  whispered  to  him,  "  It  is  of  no  use ;  the 
ledge  is  very  steep  !  you  may  fall  back  when  you  have  got 
half-way  ;  stay  where  you  are ;  perhaps  the  wind  may  drop, 
or  the  waves  may  stop  short;  and  so  you  will  be  safe  here;" 
— if  his  slothfulness  prompted  such  thoughts  as  these,  would 
he  listen  to  them?  Would  he  not  reply,  "  Hard  as  the  task 
may  be,  it  must  be  tried,  or  I  am  a  dead  man.  God  will 
not  work  a  miracle  in  my  behalf :  he  will  not  change  the 
course  of  the  tides,  and  put  a  new  and  strange  bridle  on  the 
sea,  to  save  me  from  the  effects  of  my  own  laziness.  I  have 
still  a  few  minutes  left  :  let  me  make  the  most  of  them,  and 
I  may  be  safe :  if  they  sHp  away,  I  must  be  drowned." 
This  picture  is  not  a  mere  piece  of  fancy.  Many  stories 
are  told  of  the  risks  people  have  run  by  the  coming  in  of  the 
tide,  when  they  were  straying  heedlessly  along  the  sands. 
Some  by  great  efforts,  aided  by  God's  good  providence, 
have  escaped.  Others  have  perished  miserably.  Now  the 
sinner  is  just  in  the  situation  of  the  man  I  have  been 
speaking  of.     On  one  side  of  him  is  the  steep  ledge  of 


REPENTANCE. 


repentance ;  on  the  other  the  fiery  waves  of  the  bottomless 
pit  are  every  moment  roUing  on  toward  him.  Could  his 
eyes  be  opened,  as  the  eyes  of  Ehsha's  servant  were,  he 
would  see  those  fiery  waves  already  beginning  to  surround 
him.  Is  this  a  situation  for  a  man  to  stop  in?  Will  any 
one  in  such  a  plight  talk  about  the  difficulty  of  repentance  ? 
Let  passion  cry  out,  "It  is  hard  to  deny  oneself:"  faith 
must  make  answer,  "It  is  harder  to  dwell  amid  endless 
burnings." 

There  is  one  great  difference  however  between  the  man 
walking  on  the  seashore,  and  the  sinner  loitering  on  the 
edge  of  the  fiery  lake.  The  former  will  try  to  climb  the 
rocks,  because  they  offer  him  a  chance  of  escaping ;  but  if 
we  try  to  climb  the  ledge  of  repentance,  our  escape  is 
certain,  provided  we  begin  in  time.  Jesus  Christ  himself  is 
standing  at  the  top  of  that  ledge,  crying  to  us,  "  Why  will 
ye  perish  ?  "  He  stretches  out  his  hands  to  us,  to  help  us 
up  :  we  have  only  to  lay  hold  on  them,  and  we  are  safe. 

But  then  we  must  begin  in  time.  If  a  man  sets  about 
climbing  a  steep  cliff  when  he  is  young  and  active,  and  has 
the  free  use  of  his  fimbs,  he  has  a  great  advantage  :  the  old 
and  the  crippled  are  pretty  sure  to  fail.  So  is  it  with 
repentance.  The  young  can  mount  the  hill,  if  they  set 
about  it  in  good  earnest,  with  much  less  toil.  But  they 
who  are  old  in  sin,  they  whose  souls  have  become  stiff 
through  years  of  wickedness,  and  have  grown  double,  so  to 
say,  by  always  looking  earthward, — how  can  they  make  the 
efforts  which  are  needed  for  such  a  task  ?  Of  all  hopeless 
miracles  the  miracle  of  a  death-bed  repentance  seems  to  me 
one  of  the  most  hopeless.  Therefore  repent  in  time  ;  that 
is,  repent  now :  for  now  is  the  accepted  time  ;  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation. 


X 


CONVINCE  A  MAN  OF  SIN; 
THE  BEST  PREPARATION  FOR  PASSION  WEEK. 

Romans  vii.  23. 

I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin, 
which  is  in  my  members. 

^1  TE  are  already  half  through  Lent;  and  it  is  time  we 
^^  should  turn  our  minds  to  those  thoughts  and  to 
those  subjects  which  will  best  prepare  us  for  Passion  week, 
more  especially  for  Good  Friday,  the  most  solemn  day,  the 
most  shameful  day,  and  the  saddest  day  in  the  christian 
year.  But  what  is  Passion  week  ?  It  is  the  week  of  the 
Passion :  that  is  to  say,  the  week  of  suffering.  For  passion 
in  old  English  means  suffering,  more  particularly  the  suf- 
fering of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  you  read  in  the  book  of  Acts, 
that  Jesus  shewed  himself  alive  after  his  passion,  that  is, 
after  his  suffering  on  the  cross.  Thus  too  in  the  Litany  we 
beseech  our  blessed  Lord  to  deliver  us  by  his  agony  and 
bloody  sweat,  by  his  cross  and  passion,  or  by  the  cross  and 
all  that  he  suffered  on  it.  Again  in  the  Communion  Service 
we  are  exhorted  to  give  most  humble  and  hearty  thanks 
to  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the 
redemption   of  the  world  by  the   death  and  passion,   or 


THE    BEST   PREPARATION    FOR    PASSION    WEEK.         II3 

sufferings,  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  both  God  and  man. 
Passion  week  then  is  the  season  when  we  are  more  espe- 
cially called  upon  to  commemorate  and  call  to  mind  and 
ponder  and  think  over  the  sufferings  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
during  that  dreadful  week,  when  he  was  betrayed  into  the 
hands  of  wicked  men,  and  by  them  was  falsely  accused, 
reviled,  mocked,  scourged,  crowned  with  thorns,  and  at  last 
crucified. 

Now  to  the  end  that  we  may  keep  Passion  week  in  a 
proper  manner,  by  thinking  and  feeling  about  Christ's  suffer- 
ings as  we  ought  to  do,  the  Church  has  appointed  the  forty 
days  of  Lent  to  be  a  sort  of  preparation  for  Passion  week 
and  Easter,  just  as  it  has  appointed  the  four  Sundays  in 
Advent  to  be  a  preparation  for  Christmas.  For  there  are 
two  great  seasons  in  the  year  which  it  behoves  every  Chris- 
tian to  keep,  who  wishes  to  pay  dutiful  honour  to  his 
Saviour,  or  who  would  awaken  and  stir  up  his  heart  to  a 
thankful  recollection  of  what  Christ  has  done  for  mankind. 
The  first  season  is  Christmas,  in  honour  of  Christ's  birth,  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  his  wonderful  loving-kindness  in 
coming  down  from  heaven,  and  putting  on  the  nature  of 
man.  The  other  season  is  Passion  week  and  Easter,  to 
commemorate  his  love  in  dying  for  us,  and  to  celebrate  the 
glory  of  his  Resurrection.  Both  these  seasons  are  so  im- 
portant, and  it  is  of  such  moment  to  the  welfare  of  your 
souls  that  you  should  keep  them  both  in  a  godly  manner,  that 
the  Church  has  set  apart  the  Sundays  in  Advent,  which 
come  before  Christmas,  and  the  forty  days  of  Lent,  which 
come  before  Passion  week,  as  a  time  of  preparation  for 
them. 

The  use  of  such  a  preparation  is  plain  enough.  In  the 
first  place  it  answers  the  same  purpose  that  the  early  bell 
on  Sunday  is  meant  to  answer.  As  that  bell  calls  us  to  get 
ready  for  church,  so  do  Advent  and  Lent  call  on  us  to  get 

I 


114  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

ready  for  Christmas  and  for  Easter.  When  a  musical  instru- 
ment has  been  laid  by  a  while,  it  needs  being  put  in  tune  ; 
or  it  will  make  but  sorry  music.  The  minds  and  hearts  of 
most  Christians  too  require  to  be  got  into  tune,  before  they 
can  bear  their  part  fitly  and  harmoniously  in  the  services  by 
which  the  Church  commemorates  the  birth  and  death  and 
resurrection  of  her  Lord. 

But  there  is  another  use  in  these,  times  of  preparation. 
They  are,  or  ought  to  be,  times  of  teaching  and  instruction. 
They  are  times  when  a  minister  is  especially  called  upon  to 
teach  his  flock  all  that  it  concerns  them  so  much  to  know, 
first  about  the  great  purpose  for  which  Christ  came  into  the 
world,  and  secondly  about  his  wonderful  loving-kindness  in 
dying  for  mankind. 

The  purpose  for  which  our  Saviour  came  into  the  world 
was,  that  he  might  give  us  light.  He  was  a  light,  a  heavenly 
light,  to  lighten  the  Gentiles  :  he  came  to  give  light  to  those 
who  were  sitting  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  :  and 
he  is  therefore  called  in  Scripture  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 
Now  the  best  way  of  preparing  you  to  rejoice  heart  and 
soul  at  the  coming  of  that  heavenly  light, — the  best  way  of 
leading  you  thankfully  to  hail  the  rising  of  the  Sun  ol 
Righteousness, — is  to  give  you  a  picture  of  the  gross  dark- 
ness which  pressed  like  a  heavy  mildew  on  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  men,  before  our  Lord  came  down  from  heaven, 
and  scattered  the  fog  of  sin  and  death,  just  as  the  sun 
scatters  the  night-fog  at  his  rising.  Thoroughly  to  enjoy  the 
blessing  of  light,  we  must  know  what  a  woe  darkness  is, 
when  it  comes  with  all  its  terrors.  Therefore  one  of  the 
ways  in  which  a  minister  is  to  prepare  his  people  for  Christ- 
mas, is,  by  telling  them  of  the  wretched  ignorance  and  con- 
tented wickedness  in  which  the  Gentiles,  and  I  might  almost 
say,  the  Jews  too,  were  lying  sunk  at  the  time  when  oui 
Saviour  was  born. 


THE    BEST   PREPARATION    FOR   PASSION   WEEK.  I15 

But  how  is  he  to  prepare  them  for  Passion  week  ?  By 
speaking  to  them  of  sin.  For  it  was  sin  that  caused  Christ's 
death.  He  is  the  Lamb  of  God  who  died  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world, — that  by  his  precious  blood-shedding  he 
might  reconcile  and  reunite  us  to  the  Father,  and  might 
obtain  the  Holy  Ghost  for  us,  to  regenerate  us,  and,  as  it 
were,  spiritually  re-create  us,  so  that  we  might  become  new 
men,  and  be  turned  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  God.  This 
was  the  main  reason  why  Christ  died,  that  he  might  procure 
us  the  pardon  of  our  past  sins,  and  grace  to  help  us  for  the 
future.  Now  is  it  not  plain,  that,  in  order  to  understand 
the  value  of  this  mercy,  we  must  begin  with  being  convinced 
of  the  hatefulness  and  danger  of  sin  ?  Suppose  I  were  to 
tell  a  heathen  of  Christ's  mercy  in  dying  for  sinners,  to 
purchase  for  them  God's  forgiveness  and  the  help  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  If  the  heathen  were  righteous  in  his  own 
eyes,  he  would  answer,  "  What  is  that  to  me  ?  I  want  no 
pardon.  I  am  no  sinner.  I  never  robbed  or  murdered 
any  one.  As  for  the  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  I  have  no 
need  of  that  either.  I  am  good  enough  without."  Such 
would  be  the  answer  of  a  heathen  who  was  righteous  in  his 
own  eyes,  were  I  to  speak  to  him  of  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
death.  But  begin  with  convincing  him  of  sin;  hold  the 
glass  of  truth  up  to  his  soul,  that  he  may  see  its  loathsome- 
ness and  its  weakness  ;  make  him  feel  that  God  is  of  purer 
eyes  than  to  behold  any  iniquity, — not  great  iniquities, 
mind,  the  Bible  does  not  say  that, — not  horrid  and  abomin- 
able crimes  only,  but  all  offences,  all  iniquities, — that  the 
very  heavens  are  not  pure  in  his  sight,  and  that  he  charges 
even  his  angels  with  folly;  make  the  heathen  understand 
that  God  requireth  truth  in  the  inward  parts,  in  other  words, 
that  it  is  not  enough  to  keep  from  outward  acts  of  sin,  but 
that  we  must  govern  our  very  thoughts  and  wishes :  and, 
when  you  have  thus  set  the  law  of  God  before  him  in  all  its 


n6  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

depth  and  breadth  and  purity,  bid  him  look  within ;  shew 
him  the  law  in  his  members,  the  corrupt  affections  and 
propensities  of  his  fallen  nature,  warring  against  and  over- 
powering the  law  in  his  soul,  the  law  of  God  written  in  his 
heart,  and  proclaimed  by  his  reason  and  his  conscience,  so 
that  the  good,  which  he  approves,  he  does  not,  and  the  evil, 
which  he  condemns,  he  does ;  and  what  will  this  heathen 
say  then  ?  Will  he  not  start  back  in  affright  from  this 
picture  of  his  misery  and  weakness  ?  will  he  not  cry  with 
an  exceeding  bitter  cry,  "  Wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who 
will  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  These  are 
St.  Paul's  own  words,  my  brethren :  and  now  mark  the 
words  which  come  after  them.  "  I  thank  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Hence  we  learn  that  our  thankful- 
ness for  the  death  and  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ  springs  out 
of,  and  is  in  proportion  to,  our  sense  of  our  own  guilt  and 
weakness.  For  if  we  are  guilty,  we  need  pardon  ;  if  we  are 
weak,  we  need  help  :  and  both  has  Christ  purchased  for  us. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  are  not  guilty,  we  want  no  pardon ; 
if  we  are  not  weak,  we  want  no  help  :  why  then  should  we 
feel  grateful  to  Christ  for  bringing  us  gifts  which  we  have 
no  need  of?  In  a  word,  the  guilt  of  man,  and  the  weak- 
ness of  man,  which  spring  hke  two  crooked  and  blighted 
stems,  with  all  their  poisonous  fiuitage,  from  one  and  the 
same  evil  root,  the  corruption  of  his  nature, — that  guilt  and 
that  weakness  are  the  first  elementary  truths  which  meet  us 
at  the  very  threshold  of  Christianity :  and  unless  you  feel 
these  truths,  and  are  as  much  convinced  of  them,  as  you  are 
that  fire  bums,  you  can  no  more  make  advances  in  religion, 
than  a  man  can  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  without  knowing 
his  alphabet. 

Accordingly  when  St.  Paul,  in  the  Epistle  from  which  the 
text  comes,  is  about  to  set  forth  the  great  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith,  and  salvation  through  the  merits  and  blood 


THE    BEST    PREPARATION    FOR    PASSION    WEEK.  II7 

of  Christ,  he  begins  by  a  catalogue  of  the  sins  of  the 
Gentiles  and  of  the  Jews,  which  he  gives  at  such  length 
that  it  fills  the  first  two  chapters.  Not  that  he  had  any 
liking  to  think  and  talk  about  such  foul  and  wicked  prac- 
tices :  he  says  himself  in  another  place,  that  it  is  a  shame 
even  to  speak  of  such  things  :  but  he  knew  from  his  Master's 
teaching,  that  it  is  not  the  healthy  that  need  a  physician, 
but  the  sick,  and  that  therefore,  until  he  had  convinced  his 
patients,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  that  they  were  sick  at 
heart,  he  could  not  hope  that  they  would  be  brought  to 
seek  a  cure  from  the  great  Physician  of  souls. 

In  like  manner,  Isaiah,  the  evangelical  prophet,  as  he  is 
called,  for  speaking  so  fully  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom, 
ushers  in  his  prophecy  of  the  manifold  blessings  of  that 
kingdom, — how?  by  telling  us  of  God's  great  goodness? 
No  :  but  by  telling  us  of  man's  great  wickedness.  "  Hear, 
O  heavens  !  (he  cries)  and  give  ear,  O  earth  !  for  the  Lord 
hath  spoken :  I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children, 
and  they  have  rebelled  against  me.  The  ox  knoweth  his 
owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib ;  but  Israel  doth  not 
know,  my  people  doth  not  consider.  Ah,  sinful  nation  !  a 
people  laden  with  iniquity," — observe  the  words,  laden  with 
iniquity,  as  if  it  were  a  sore  burthen,  too  heavy  to  be  borne 
— "a  seed  of  evil-doers,  children  that  are  corrupters!" — 
boys  and  girls  that,  as  soon  as  they  can  run  about,  or  at  any 
rate  by  the  time  they  are  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  corrupt 
one  another,  and  teach  and  learn  of  each  other  not  all  the 
good  they  can,  but  all  the  evil.  "  They  have  forsaken  the 
Lord  :  they  have  provoked  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  to  anger. 
The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint." 

Assuredly  it  is  not  by  chance  that  the  most  evangelical  of 
the  prophets,  and  the  most  doctrinal  of  the  apostles,  both 
begin  in  the  same  way,  by  speaking  of  the  sinfulness  of 
man,  of  the  weakness  and  sickness  oi"  our  souls.     They  did 


Ij8  the    ALTON    SERMONS. 

it,  because  they  knew  it  was  as  necessary  for  them  to  begin 
thus,  as  for  a  builder,  who  would  have  his  house  stand,  to 
lay  a  deep  and  strong  foundation.  The  only  support  of 
christian  holiness  is  christian  faith  and  love  :  and  the  only 
true,  the  only  possible  foundation,  humanly  speaking,  for 
christian  faith  and  love,  is  a  deep  and  strong  conviction  of 
all  that  Christ  has  borne  and  wrought  for  us, — a  conviction 
of  our  need  of  his  pardon,  of  our  need  of  his  help, — a  con- 
viction how  utterly  ruined  and  lost  we  are  without  that  par- 
don and  aid, — in  a  word,  a  conviction  of  the  exceeding  sin- 
fulness of  sin,  and  of  the  utter  helplessness  of  our  nature. 
This  is  the  only  foundation  of  christian  doctrine,  the  only 
root  of  the  christian  graces. 

We  must  be  convinced  that  our  helplessness  is  such  as 
can  only  arise  from  an  evil  bias  in  our  nature, — that  we  are 
sinners,  and  cannot  become  otherwise  through  any  power  of 
our  own, — that  sin  is  born  in  the  bone,  as  the  saying  is,  and 
will  not  out  of  the  flesh  ; — that  there  is  indeed  a  law  in  our 
members,  warring  against  the  law  of  our  reason  and  con- 
science, and  bringing  us  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin, 
which  is  in  our  members.  Now  this  doctrine,  which  so 
humbles  and  casts  down  all  the  pride  and  vain  boastings  of 
man,  seems  to  many  people  very  hard;  so  that  they  will 
even  say  they  do  not  believe  it.  They  tell  us  it  is  impos- 
sible,—that  we  are  God's  favourite  creatures, — that  he  has 
made  us  the  lords  of  the  creation,  and  heirs  of  eternal  life, 
— and  that  therefore  it  is  quite  impossible  that  we  should 
be  so  prone  to  sin,  as  the  Bible,  and  our  Church,  setting 
forth  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  in  her  Articles  and  Homilies, 
declare  us  to  be.  Now  the  plain  answer  to  this  fine  reason- 
ng  is :  it  may  seem  to  you  impossible,  but  the  fact  is  so 
notwithstanding.  This  is  the  answer,  and  a  full  answer, 
and  in  truth  the  only  answer  that  can  be  made.  If  we  were 
not  men  ourselves,  and  merely  knew  that  such  animals  lived 


THE    BEST    PREPARATION    FOR   PASSION    WEEK.  I  19 

in  some  other  place, — in  the  moon  for  instance,  or  in  that 
beautiful  star  which  shines  so  brightly  of  an  evening,  there 
would  be  nothing  unreasonable  in  trying  to  guess  and  fancy 
what  such  creatures  might  be.  But  seeing  that  we  are  our- 
selves men,  and  can  look  into  ourselves,  and  can  see  and 
feel  in  some  sort  what  our  hearts  are  made  of,  the  question 
is  not  what  we  are  likely  to  be,  but  what  we  really  are. 
Where  the  fact  lies  at  a  man's  door,  there  is  no  room  for 
guess-work. 

The  question  whether  we  are  not  prone  to  sin  from  our 
cradles  upward,  is  a  mere  question  of  fact.  It  is  a  fact  too 
which  everybody  can  speak  to  for  himself:  he  has  only  to 
look  within.  Look  within  then,  my  brethren,  into  your 
own  hearts :  I  advise,  I  exhort,  I  entreat  you, — in  God's 
name  I  command  you,  in  the  name  of  our  blessed  Saviour 
and  Master  I  entreat  you,  to  look  within.  Look  into  your 
hearts  and  tell  me  what  you  find  there.  Is  it  good?  or  is  it 
evil  ?  You  will  say,  a  little  of  both.  Be  it  so  :  tell  me 
then,  or  rather  tell  yourselves,  honestly  and  truly,  which  of 
the  two  cost  you  the  most  trouble  to  learn  ?  the  good,  or  the 
evil?  Which  of  the  two  came  the  easiest  and  the  most 
naturally  ?  Is  there  a  doubt  ?  Can  any  one  doubt  that  it 
is  easier  to  get  bad  habits  than  good  ones?  Can  any  one 
doubt  that  it  is  easier  for  a  sober  man  to  become  a 
drunkard,  than  for  a  poor  miserable  besotted  drunkard  to 
trace  his  steps  back  and  to  become  sober  ? 

One  reason  of  this  is  plain  :  because  God's  service  is  per- 
fect freedom;  and  so  we  may  leave  it  when  we  please. 
Whereas  the  devil's  service  is  a  miserable  bondage.  No 
master  is  more  cruel ;  no  servitude  is  more  wearying ;  no 
chains  are  heavier  or  stronger,  or  harder  to  break.  If  you 
doubt  this,  ask  the  drunkard,  whether  he  would  not  wish  to 
become  sober,  whether  he  would  not  wish  to  leave  off  a 
habit  which  gives  him  sore  eyes  and  shaking  hands,  a  habit 


I20  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

which  turns  him  into  a  brute  beast,  which  clothes  him  in 
rags  and  poverty,  which  is  hurrying  him  to  the  grave  in  this 
world,  and  will  send  him  to  a  worse  grave  in  the  next :  ask 
the  poor  wretch  this ;  and  he  will  tell  you,  he  would  give 
anything  to  become  as  sober  as  he  was  in  his  childhood. 
Ask  him  then,  why  he  does  not  leave  off  drinking ;  since  he 
knows  the  habit  is  so  bad,  and  wishes  so  much  to  leave  it 
off  ?  His  answer  will  be,  "  Because  I  can't."  What  is  this 
but  saying,  "  Sin  has  got  so  strong  a  hold  on  me,  I  cannot 
escape  from  her  clutches  ?" 

This  then  is  one  reason  why  bad  habits  are  so  much 
harder  to  break  through  than  good  ones.  Another  reason, 
and  the  chief  one  is,  because  our  nature  is  corrupt,  and 
apter  to  evil  than  to  good,  to  wrong  than  to  right,  to  do  the 
devil's  work  than  to  do  God's  work. 

Let  us  look  at  the  question  from  another  point  of  view. 
Ask  mothers  who  have  seen  and  watched  children  from  their 
infancy,  whether  every  child  they  ever  saw  had  not  some- 
thing to  learn  that  was  good,  and  something  to  unlearn  that 
was  evil.  Now  where  did  this  evil  come  from  ?  It  cannot 
have  been  taught  to  the  child ;  for  I  am  speaking  of  a  time 
before  all  teaching.  But  if  the  evil  was  not  taught  to  the 
child,  the  child  must  have  had  it  naturally.  So  it  is  in  other 
things.  The  good  wheat  must  be  sown  and  well  looked 
after ;  or  it  will  never  come  to  much.  The  weeds  sprout 
up  and  spread  of  themselves ;  and  it  is  as  great  a  labour  to 
keep  them  down,  as  to  get  the  good  wheat  up.  The  truth 
is,  man  is  naturally  prone  to  sin :  his  nature  is  corrupt :  and 
without  God's  help  he  can  no  more  mend  it,  than  a  sick 
man  can  mend  and  cure  himself  without  the  help  of  a 
physician. 

But  some  may  say,  if  this  be  so,  if  we  are  naturally  so 
given  to  evil,  it  cannot  be  our  fault  if  we  do  wrong.  It  is 
our  misfortune  :  we  cannot  help  it :  and  God  will  never 


THE   BEST   PREPARATION    FOR    PASSION   WEEK.         121 

blame  or  punish  us  for  not  being  better  than  he  made  us. 
You  might  as  well  blame  a  sick  person  for  dying,  as  blame  a 
maa  for  sinning,  if  his  nature  is  so  corrupt  and  evil.  No 
doubt,  it  would  be  very  hard, — I  have  spoken  a  bold  word ; 
but  St.  Paul  speaks  as  bold  a  one, — it  would  be  very  hard 
and  unjust  to  punish  men  for  what  they  cannot  help.  It 
would  be  very  unjust  to  blame  a  sick  man  for  dying,  pro- 
vided there  were  no  physicians.  But  in  a  country  where 
there  are  plenty  of  physicians,  and  the  sick  have  only  to 
send  for  them, — if  in  such  a  country  a  sick  man  is  obstinate, 
and  will  not  send  for  a  physician,  and  will  not  take  the 
means  of  being  made  well,  he  is  to  blame ;  and  if  he  dies, 
he  is  guilty  of  his  own  death.  Suppose  now  that  the  phy- 
sician does  not  wait  to  be  sent  for,  that  he  comes  of  his  own 
accord  to  the  sick  man's  bed-side,  that  he  brings  a  medicine 
of  rare  herbs  in  his  hand,  and  says  to  the  sick  man,  "  My 
friend,  I  heard  you  were  very  ill,  and  so  I  am  come  to  see 
you.  You  certainly  are  very  sick  indeed,  worse  than  you 
are  aware  of:  for  the  fever  gives  you  false  spirits.  Your 
disease  is  the  leprosy ;  but  it  is  a  kind  of  leprosy,  which, 
instead  of  breaking  out  openly,  burns  and  dries  up  the 
inside.  However,  I  have  brought  you  a  medicine,  which 
will  cure  you,  if  you  will  take  it.  It  is  a  medicine  of  rare 
herbs  that  come  from  the  Indies ;  and  I  have  paid  a  great 
price  for  it.  I  cannot  bear  to  see  a  fellow-creature  so  near 
death,  without  helping  him.  Never  mind  your  poverty  ;  I 
want  no  payment.  I  will  give  you  the  medicine  freely,  with 
all  my  heart,  if  you  will  only  take  it."  But  the  sick  man 
refuses  to  take  it.  He  does  not  like  its  look  ;  or  he  tastes 
it,  and  finds  it  bitter,  and  will  not  swallow  it ;  or  he  believes 
a  neighbour,  who  tells  him  not  to  trust  the  physician,  and 
that  a  glass  of  good  wine  is  worth  all  the  physic  in  the 
world.  He  will  not  take  the  physic  ;  he  drinks  the  wine 
instead ;  and  the  next  morning  he  dies.     Who  is  to  blame  ? 


122  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

My  brethren,  this  is  our  case.  We  have  this  leprosy. 
We  cannot  cure  ourselves.  But  Jesus  Christ  is  come  to  us, 
the  great  physician  of  the  soul.  We  could  not  go  to  him ; 
but  he  is  come  to  us.  He  has  warned  us  of  our  danger. 
He  gives  us  his  medicine  without  money  and  without  price. 
And  well  it  is  for  us  that  he  does  so  :  for  the  medicine  is  so 
precious,  that,  if  this  church  were  a  lump  of  gold,  it  would 
be  as  worthless  as  a  grain  of  dust,  compared  with  one  drop 
of  that  healing  medicine.  He  alone  was  rich  enough  to  pay 
the  price  of  the  medicine  :  and  that  price  was  his  own  life. 
He  died,  that  we  might  live, — that  we  might  be  healed  of  our 
deadly  sickness, — that  we  might  be  washed  and  made  clean 
from  the  leprosy  of  sin, — that  our  flesh  might  come  again  like 
the  flesh  of  little  children, — and  that  so  we  might  be  healed, 
and  might  live  indeed,  the  only  life  worth  living,  a  life  of 
holiness  and  godliness,  of  honesty  and  soberness  and  purity. 
He  has  done  all  this  for  us.  He  has  brought  the  medicine 
to  our  door :  shall  we  refuse  to  take  it  ?  shall  we  say  that 
we  know  better  than  he  does,  what  will  do  us  good  ?  that 
we  will  have  none  of  his  medicine  ?  We  may  say  this  if  we 
please  :  for  we  are  free  to  take  the  medicine  or  to  leave  it. 
But  if  we  refuse  to  Hsten  to  him,  and  die  in  our  sins,  who 
will  be  to  blame  ?  No  one  except  ourselves  :  and  we  shall 
be  the  losers  and  the  sufferers. 

This  then  is  the  right  preparation  for  Passion  week,  to 
think  seriously  of  our  sins,  which  were  the  cause  of  Christ's 
sufferings,  to  sorrow  over  them,  and  to  repent  of  them : 
and  therefore  Lent  is  appointed  by  the  Church  to  be 
a  season  of  humiliation  and  mortification  and  penance, 
that  by  passing  through  the  strait  gate  we  may  be  pre- 
pared to  receive  the  pardon  of  the  sins,  of  which  we 
have  repented,  declared  to  us  from  the  cross  of  Christ. 
My  brethren,  have  you,  each  of  you,  such  a  sense  of 
the   sinfulness,   the   vileness   Oi    sin,  as   covers   you   with 


THE    BEST    PREPARATION    FOR    PASSION    WEEK.  1 23 

shame,  fills  you  with  godly  sorrow,  and  leads  you  to  seek 
pardon  and  comfort  where  alone  it  can  be  found,  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross  ?  Then  shall  ye  be  meet  to  hear  the  prayer 
which  Jesus  from  that  cross  offers  up  for  you  to  his  Father, 
that  he  will  forgive  you.  Have  you  such  a  thorough  convic- 
tion of  your  own  weakness,  are  you  so  fully  aware  that  there 
is  a  law  in  your  members  warring  against  the  law  of  God, 
and  tempting  you  to  what  you  know  to  be  wrong,  as  leads 
you  to  pray  heartily  to  God,  that  he  will  send  his  Holy 
Spirit  to  dwell  with  you,  and  help  you  to  all  holiness  of 
living  ?  If  you  have,  happy  are  you ;  for  then  you  are  in 
the  road  to  heaven.  But  if  you  have  not  this  sense  of  your 
sinfulness  and  your  weakness,  if  you  are  without  christiar 
fear,  and  without  christian  thankfulness,  if  you  neither  think 
of  Christ  as  a  Saviour,  nor  pray  for  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a 
Comforter,  then  are  you  living  in  a  christian  country  strangers 
to  the  very  elements  of  Christianity :  and  it  will  be  better  in 
the  day  of  iudgment  for  Jews  and  heathens,  who  have  never 
heard  these  truths,  than  for  you  who  have  heard  them,  but 
not  heeded  them. 


XL 

THE  ATONEMENT. 

I  Timothy  i.  15. 

This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners. 

"  /^HRIST  JESUS  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners." 
^^  He  left  all  the  glories  of  heaven :  he  came  from  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  and  was  made  man,  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief :  and,  after  a  life  of  toil  and  heavy- 
care,  he  died  a  painful  and  shameful  death  upon  the  cross. 
Do  you  ask  why  he  did  this  ?  why  he  gave  up  so  much  glory 
and  blessedness  ?  why  he  underwent  so  much  pain  ?  why  he 
suffered  the  Jews  to  put  him  to  such  a  cruel  death  ?  St.  Paul 
tells  you  :  he  did  it  to  save  sinners.  He  did  it  to  reunite 
us  to  the  Father,  and  as  it  were  to  fasten  and  cement  us  to 
holiness  and  godliness  with  his  most  precious  blood.  Being 
God  as  well  as  man,  I  need  not  tell  you,  that  he  bore  all 
those  dreadful  pains  and  insults  and  injuries,  which  you  read 
of  in  the  26th  and  27th  chapters  of  St.  Matthew,  and  in  the 
latter  chapters  of  the  other  Gospels, — I  need  not  tell  you 
that  Jesus  bore  all  these  things  of  his  own  free  will.  It  was 
with  his  own  consent  that  the  Jews  nailed  his  innocent  feet 
and  hands  to  the  cross.  It  was  with  his  own  consent  that 
they  spat  on  him,  that  they  scourged  him,  that  they  dragged 


THE    ATONEMENT. 


25 


him  before  Pilate,  that  they  condemned  him  to  die,  that  they 
made  him  bear  the  cross,  that  they  wagged  their  heads  at 
him  and  reviled  him.  If  he  had  not  permitted  them  to  do 
all  this  they  could  not  have  done  it.  The  power  of  his 
word,  which  had  calmed  the  fury  of  the  sea,  and  tamed  such 
as  were  possessed  by  devils,  would  easily  have  quieted  and 
put  down  the  violence  of  those  wicked  men.  A  wish,  a 
single  wish  would  have  been  enough  to  free  him :  a  single 
wish  would  have  been  enough  to  scatter  all  his  enemies,  in 
the  midst  of  their  blasphemies,  of  their  mockery,  of  their 
malignant  taunts,  "  Thinkest  thou,"  he  says,  "  that  I  cannot 
now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall  presently  give  me  more 
than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  "  armies  of  heavenly  soldiers, 
with  their  chariots  of  fire  and  horses  of  fire,  any  one  of  them 
powerful  enough  to  destroy  a  world.  But  Jesus  uttered  no 
such  prayer :  and  he  telk  us  the  reason  why :  "  Because 
thus  it  must  be,  that  the  Scriptures  must  be  fulfilled."  Which 
is  as  much  as  to  say,  God's  word  must  be  kept :  his  will 
must  be  done  :  his  prophets  have  promised  redemption  and 
pardon  to  the  children  of  Adam  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb  of  God.  I  am  that  Lamb.  I  am  going  therefore  as 
a  lamb  to  the  slaughter  :  I  must  be  gentle  as  a  lamb ;  I 
must  be  unresisting  as  a  lamb ;  that  the  great  sacrifice,  which 
is  to  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  may  be  perfected, 
and  that  man  may  be  freely  pardoned,  and  united  again  to 
God. 

This  is  the  great  secret  and  the  foundation  stone  of 
Christianity;  that  man  is  reconciled  to  God  by  the  blood 
of  Christ.  This  is  the  great  mystery, — let  me  rather  call  it 
the  great  marvel  and  miracle,  of  the  atonement,  which  no 
love  less  than  God's  could  have  desired,  which  no  wisdom 
less  than  God's  could  have  devised,  which  no  power  less 
than  God's  could  have  accomplished.  It  is  of  this,  God's 
wonderful  and  wonder-working  scheme  for  the  redemption 


126  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

and  salvation  of  his  fallen  creatures,  that  St.  Paul  is  speaking 
in  the  text ;  and  how  does  he  speak  of  it  ?  He  tells  us, 
that  "  it  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation  :" 
which  means,  that  it  is  true,  and  a  truth  which  concerns  us 
very  nearly.  Many  things  are  true,  which  do  not  concern 
us,  and  which  we  are  neither  the  better  for  knowing,  nor  the 
worse  for  not  knowing.  It  is  true  for  instance,  that  a  king 
of  England  was  put  to  death  by  his  subjects  something  more 
than  a  hundred  and  eighty  years  ago.  It  is  true,  that  in 
some  countries  the  people  live  chiefly  on  fruits  and  rice.  It 
is  true  again,  that  there  are  two  distant  points  on  the  earth, 
where  the  sun  only  rises  once  and  sets  once  in  a  year ;  so 
that  each  day  and  each  night  lasts  six  months.  But,  though 
these  facts  are  true,  the  knowledge  of  them  does  you  no 
good.  It  does  not  make  you  happier  :  it  does  not  in  any 
way  make  you  better.  Therefore  no  one  would  think  of 
calling  these  truths  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  The  truth, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  Jesus  Christ  came  to  save  sinners,  is 
of  quite  another  kind.  It  is  a  truth  we  are  to  turn  to 
practical  use,  a  truth  we  are  to  live  by,  a  truth  we  are  to  be 
saved  by.  Therefore  St.  Paul  calls  it  worthy  of  all  accep- 
tation ;  not  of  a  little  acceptance,  but  of  all.  We  are  not 
to  receive  it  with  a  slight  welcome,  and  then  think  no  more 
about  it,  as  we  might  receive  a  neighbour,  when  he  happens 
to  call  in  for  a  few  minutes.  We  are  to  receive  it  heartily 
and  joyfully  and  entirely,  with  all  acceptation,  as  a  man 
would  welcome  his  bride  to  his  house,  who  is  to  be  the 
inmate  of  it  for  life.  This  is  the  way  that  the  great  doctrine 
of  redemption  and  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Christ  ought 
to  be  received  by  every  one.  It  deserves,  it  is  worthy  of 
entire  and  universal  acceptation.  Let  me  entreat  you  to 
lend  me  your  ears,  while  I  try  to  give  you  some  account  of 
it,  and  to  shew  you  how  excellent,  how  comfortable,  how 
hopeful  a  doctrine  it  is. 


THE    ATONEMENT.  1 27 


h 


In  the  first  place  it  is  clear  that,  if  Jesus  Christ  came  to 
save  sinners,  there  must  be  sinners  to  be  saved.  Unless  we 
know  and  feel  that  the  heart  of  man  naturally  loves  sin,  and 
that  nevertheless,  when  we  love  sin,  we  love  a  thing  which 
we  ought  to  hate,  and  which  is  a  disease  and  disgrace  to  us, 
the  suffering  and  death  of  Christ  will  be  as  great  a  stumbling- 
block  to  us,  as  they  were  to  the  Jews,  provided  we  never 
think  about  them.  If  our  thoughts  do  not  turn  that  way, 
of  course  we  shall  not  stumble  at  that  stumbling-block  :  just 
as  a  man  who  keeps  away  from  the  narrow  gate  spoken  of 
in  our  Saviour's  parable,  will  never  see  and  feel  that  it  is 
narrow.  This  is  the  reason  why  there  are  so  many  people 
in  the  world,  who  call  themselves  Christians,  yet  live  the 
life  of  heathens.  They  never  think  about  the  matter ;  and 
Christian  seems  to  them  as  good  a  name  as  any  other  : 
so  they  are  content  to  be  called  by  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  to  wear  his  livery,  as  long  as  they  have  no  service 
to  do  him.  But  God  will  not  allow  himself  to  be  thus 
mocked.  Remember  the  end  of  the  man  who  hid  his 
talent  in  a  napkin.  •'  Wicked  and  slothful  servant "  is  the 
name  his  master  calls  him.  God  has  given  us  the  power  of 
thinking :  and  for  not  using  that  power,  or  using  it  amiss, 
and  employing  it  only  on  worldly  things,  he  will  surely  call 
us  to  a  strict  account.  Is  the  mind  of  man  God's  best  and 
noblest  gift  ?  and  is  it  the  only  thing  on  earth  that  is  to  lie 
fallow  year  after  year  ?  There  are  more  parables,  I  believe, , 
in  the  New  Testament  against  taking  no  thought  about  | 
heavenly  things,  and  taking  too  much  thought  about  earthly 
things,  than  against  any  other  fault  whatsoever. 

But,  if  you  do  think,  the  whole  mystery  and  miracles  of 
the  death  and  sufferings  of  our  Saviour  Christ  will  be  a 
stumbling-block  at  the  very  outset,  unless  you  know  and  feel 
the  meaning  of  these  four  words,  sin,  and  guilt,  and  justice, 
and  punishment.     "  I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but 


128  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

sinners,"  says  Christ  himself.  It  was  useless  to  call  those 
who  fancied  themselves  righteous :  they  were  satisfied  already, 
and  so  would  not  come  to  him.  "  They  that  are  whole,"  he 
says  in  another  place,  "  have  no  need  of  a  physician,  but 
they  that  are  sick."  Does  he  mean  that  anybody  is  really 
whole  ?  Not  so  :  for  we  know  that,  in  the  language  of 
Isaiah,  "  the  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  is  faint. 
From  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  to  the  head  there  is  no 
soundness,  but  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying  sores  " 
(i.  5,  6).  Our  Saviour's  meaning  is  this  :  just  as  a  man  who 
thinks  his  body  is  in  good  health,  will  not  go  to  a  physician, 
so  the  man  who  thinks  his  soul  in  good  health,  will  not 
come  to  me.  It  is  the  sick  man,  the  man  who  knows  him- 
self to  be  at  death's  door,  that  sends  the  most  anxiously  for 
a  physician.  It  is  the  man  who  feels  that  he  has  the  deadly 
disease  of  sin  upon  him,  that  runs  the  most  readily  to  Jesus, 
the  great  physician  of  the  soul. 

Now  this  deadly  disease  we  all  have  :  and  by  nature  it  is 
utterly  incurable.  Do  any  of  you  doubt  what  I  say  ?  Do 
any  of  you  doubt  your  being  sinners?  Look  into  your 
hearts.  Do  you  find  the  love  of  God  there  ?  Do  you  find 
the  love  of  your  neighbour  there  ?  Alas  !  it  is  a  great  thing, 
if,  instead  of  love,  you  do  not  find  hatred.  Do  not  be  startled, 
and  think  it  impossible  there  should  be  anything  so  wicked 
as  hatred  in  that  good,  kind  heart  of  yours.  Look  a 
little  closer ;  probe  a  Httle  deeper.  What !  no  little  grudge 
there  against  one  neighbour  for  the  affront  he  offered  you  a 
short  time  ago  ?  No  pleasure  in  speaking  ill  of  somebody, 
who  may  have  passed  for  a  sort  of  pattern  person  in  the 
next  parish,  if  he  or  she,  or  their  son  or  daughter,  happen 
to  have  made  a  slip  ?  No  jealousy  of  another  for  being  a 
little  better  off,  or  a  little  smarter,  or  a  little  more  favoured 
in  some  way  than  you  are  ?  "  But  he  does  not  deserve  it." 
Por  this  is  the  common  answer  to  such  a  charge.     And 


THE   ATONEMENT.  129 


what  does  that  answer  prove?  It  proves  that  you  are 
looking  at  your  neighbour's  more  prosperous  condition  with 
a  sharp  and  unfriendly  eye.  If  the  same  good  fortune  had 
befallen  you  or  your  child,  would  you  have  been  so  very 
scrupulous  about  rejoicing  at  it,  because  you,  perhaps,  do 
not  deserve  it  either  ?  Why  then  this  difference  in  the  two 
cases?  Because  you  are  not  jealous  of  yourself;  and  you 
are  jealous  of  your  neighbour.  In  other  words,  because  you 
have  an  ill-will  to  your  neighbour  in  comparison  with  the 
good- will  which  you  bear  to  yourself.  Now  what  must  that 
heart  be,  where  all  these  little  dirty  selfish  grovelling  spiteful 
feelings  find  a  place  ?  Is  it  in  a  sound  state  ? — in  such  a 
state  as  a  heart  ought  to  be  ?  Yet  I  have  not  spoken  of  the 
greater  sins,  the  grosser  breaches  of  God's  law.  I  have  not 
said  a  word  about  that  violence,  that  covetousness,  that  lust, 
that  drunkenness,  that  revenge,  which  turn  a  common  news- 
paper into  a  list  and  string  of  crimes. 

Such  is  the  state  of  man  without  religion ;  bad  and  vile 
at  the  best;  and  for  the  most  part  desperately  wicked. 
What,  then,  was  God  to  do?  Laws  he  had  tried  :  and  tha 
holier  the  laws,  the  more  pleasure  men  seemed  to  take  in) 
breaking  them.  Besides,  laws  only  tell  us  what  is  right  : 
they  arm  us  with  no  power  of  doing  it.  They  are  like  so 
many  looking-glasses,  which  show  us  our  ugliness  and 
deformity,  but  cannot  give  us  new  faces  and  shapes.  More- 
over, laws  threaten  punishment ;  and  man  had  need  to  hear 
of  pardon.  Their  language  is — "  Cursed  is  he  that  doeth 
not  all  the  words  of  this  law."  "  He  that  is  guilty  in  one 
point  is  guilty  of  all."  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die," 
This  is  the  terrible  language  of  the  law.  Apply  it,  I  beseech 
you,  to  your  own  case.  Have  you  sinned  ?  You  are  con- 
demned to  die.  Have  you  broken  any  one  of  God's  laws, 
in  any  one  tittle,  at  any  moment  of  your  life?  You  know 
you  have  broken  them  in  a  thousand  ways :  many  of  you 

K 


130  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

live  in  utter  disregard  of  them.  Alas  !  you  are  then  accursed; 
and  the  Bible  tells  us  what  the  fate  of  the  accursed  is  to  be, 
"  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire."  Must  this  indeed 
be  so  ?  "  Must  I  indeed  go,  merciful  God  !  to  dwell  for 
ever  w4th  evil  spirits  in  wailing  and  unutterable  woe  ?"  Such 
is  the  natural  cry  that  would  burst  from  every  heart  at  hear- 
ing so  fearful  a  sentence.  Yet,  if  we  look  into  the  matter,  I 
see  not  where,  out  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  sinner 
can  turn  for  reasonable  grounds  of  comfort.  For  we  all 
know  that  God  is  just  and  true  :  and  he  has  said  he  "  will 
by  no  means  clear  the  guilty."  Now  we  are  guilty :  how 
then  is  he  to  clear  us  ?  Is  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  heaven 
and  earth  not  to  rebuke  and  punish  wickedness  ?  Is  he  to 
allow  the  w^hole  assembled  universe  of  angels  and  men,  and 
every  order  of  created  spirits,  to  witness  a  sight  so  monstrous, 
so  offensive  to  all  reason,  as  an  open  rebellion  against  his 
authority,  continual  breaches  of  his  law,  a  forgetfulness  of 
his  will  for  years  and  years,  and  yet  to  withhold  his  hand, 
and  not  to  punish  ?  "  Shall  I  not  visit  for  these  things,  saith 
the  Lord  ?  "  But  why  say  for  years  and  years  ?  Were  the 
sun  one  morning  to  refuse  to  rise,  were  he  to  quit  his  place 
in  the  sky  at  mid-day,  or  to  change  his  course  and  turn  east- 
Avard,  what  dismay,  what  confusion,  what  destruction  would 
it  cause,  even  were  he  to  do  so  once  only  !  And  has  not 
your  soul,  which  is  better  than  a  thousand  suns,  which  shall 
outlive  that  glorious  sun  for  thousands  of  years,  which  was 
made  originally  in  the  image  of  God  himself, — has  not  your 
soul  abandoned  its  place  on  earth,  forgotten  its  duty,  and 
gone  back  from  the  w^ay  of  God's  commandments  ?  I  verily 
believe,  or  I  should  not  dare  to  say  so  in  this  holy  place, — 
I  should  not  dare  to  lie  to  my  own  heart  before  God,  even 
for  the  sake  of  winning  you  to  Christ, — I  verily  believe,  that 
were  one  of  those  pure  and  mighty  spirits,  who  keep  watch 
round  the  throne  of  God,  to  stand  at  this  moment  before 


THE   ATONEMENT.  131 


our  eyes,  he  would  tell  us  that  a  deliberate  and  wilful  sin  is 
a  sadder  and  more  dreadful  thing,  an  evil  more  difiicult  to 
amend  and  repair,  than  if  the  sun  were  to  go  out  in  mid 
heaven,  and  darkness  to  usurp  the  place  of  light.  He  would 
tell  you,  that  he  and  his  brethren  could  soon  repair  or  replace 
the  sun ;  but  that  for  the  wickedness,  the  stubbornness,  the 
presumptuous  rebellion  of  sin,  he  knew  no  remedy  :  he  only 
knew  that,  unless  God  found  a  remedy,  it  must  end  in  death 
and  hell ;  and  that  he  had  sorrowed  over  it  with  a  great  but 
unavailing  sorrow. 

Is  it  then  come  to  this  ?  Must  millions  of  millions  of 
human  beings,  who  have  dwelt  on  this  earth  since  the  time 
of  Adam,  be  all  cast  into  endless  torments  ?  Is  there  to  be 
sorrow  in  heaven  over  God's  fallen  creatures,  and  a  jubilee 
among  the  devils  for  having  ruined  God's  best  work  ?  Not 
so,  my  brethren.  God  himself  has  found  the  remedy :  none 
but  God  could.  He  has  sent  his  Son,  to  take  our  nature 
upon  him.,  and  to  die  on  the  cross,  a  ransom  and  a  sacrifice 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Join  with  me  in  adoring 
the  wisdom  and  the  love  of  this  great  plan  :  its  wisdom  : 
for  it  has  enabled  God  to  pardon  us,  and  yet  to  show  how 
deeply  he  hates  sin.  Can  any  one  pretend  that  God  is  in- 
different about  sin  ;  can  any  one  dare  to  fancy  that  sin  is  a 
light  and  trivial  thing ;  when  God,  before  he  pardoned  it, 
sent  his  only  Son  into  the  world  to  die  for  it  ?  If  he  had 
pardoned  sin  without  a  sacrifice,  we  should  have  been  led  to 
doubt  whether  sin  was  really  displeasing  to  God.  But  God 
has  required  a  sacrifice  :  and  that  sacrifice  is  the  life  and 
death  of  Christ.  He  has  given  his  well-beloved  Son  to  suffer 
in  the  stead  of  a  rebellious  world  :  and,  through  this  shewing 
forth  of  the  most  awful  justice,  he  publishes  the  fullest  and 
freest  pardon.  There  is  a  story  told  of  an  ancient  lawgiver, 
that,  among  the  laws  by  which  he  endeavoured  to  uphold 
purity  of  lite  among  his  people,  one  was,  that  whoever  com- 


132  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

mitted  adultery  should  lose  both  his  eyes  :  having  sinned 
through  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  eyes  which  ensnared  him 
into  sin  were  to  be  forfeited.  Now  it  fell  out  that  his  own 
son  was  found  guilty  of  adultery  soon  after.  The  father 
condemned  him  to  lose  both  his  eyes.  So  beloved  however 
was  he  by  the  people,  that  all  the  city  besought  him  to  spare 
his  son.  At  length  he  yielded.  But  how  ?  He  commanded 
the  executioner  to  pluck  out  one  of  his  own  eyes,  and  then 
one  of  his  son's.  Thus  the  law  was  satisfied ;  yet  the  guilty 
son  was  spared  the  loss  of  his  sight :  and  the  lawgiver,  in  the 
very  act  of  setting  aside  the  law,  established  it  more  firmly 
than  ever.  The  story  of  a  human  lawgiver  may  help  you  to 
understand  the  manner  in  which  God  teaches  us,  —  and 
teaches  too  at  the  very  moment  when  he  is  pardoning  us, — 
that  he  cannot  loosen  or  break  the  chain,  which  fastens  sin 
and  woe  together.  That  chain  remains  unbroken :  yet  the 
criminal  is  pardoned :  the  outcast  is  invited  back ;  the 
prodigal  son  is  welcomed  home  to  his  Father's  house,  and 
received  again  into  full  favour. 

But  the  cross  of  Christ  not  only  shows  the  exceeding  sin- 
fulness of  sin,  and  proves  the  justice  and  the  holiness  of 
God,  who  would  not  pardon  it  without  the  sacrifice  of  the 
blood  of  his  dear  Son  :  it  also  proves  the  unspeakable  love 
of  our  merciful  Father  for  his  sinful  and  rebellious  children. 
"  Herein  is  love,"  says  St,  John  ;  "  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  he  loved  us,  and  gave  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation 
for  our  sins."  (i  John  iv.  lo.)  This  is  the  proof  of  God's 
love  :  a  stronger  cannot  be  imagined.  Would  he  have  sent 
his  only  Son  to  die  for  us,  if  he  had  not  loved  us  ?  If  any 
of  you  are  fathers,  if  any  here  are  mothers,  ask  yourselves, 
would  you  give  the  life  of  one  of  your  children  for  anything 
you  did  not  love  ?  But  God  gave  the  life  of  his  only  Son 
for  the  salvation  and  redemption  of  mankind.  What  a 
wonderful,  what  an  awful,  what  a  comfortable  proof  does 


THE    ATONEMENT. 


13: 


this  give  of  God's  love  !  Surely  it  is  a  love  that  passeth 
knowledge.  "  God  so  loved  the  world,"  says  our  Lord 
himself,  "  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  m  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life."  (John  iii.  16.) 

This  then,  my  brethren,  is  the  blessed  truth,  which  St. 
Paul  calls  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  While  man  was  making 
a  mock  at  sin,  God  came  down  from  his  throne  of  glory, 
and  suffered  death  as  a  creature,  the  representative  of  sin- 
ners ;  and  having  done  this,  he  declares  to  the  world  that 
sin  can  be  forgiven.  Here  ''mercy  and  truth  are  met 
together ;  righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each  other." 
(Psalm  Ixxxv.  10.)  We  are  justified  freely;  but  we  are 
justified'  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  a  man  can 
hear  this,  without  loving  God,  and  striving  to  obey  him, 
without  loving  Christ,  and  following  him,  without  hating 
sin,  which  caused  Christ's  death,  without  loving  his  neigh- 
bour, for  whom  Christ  died, — no  more  can  be  done  for 
such  a  man.  God  has  no  second  Son  to  send,  no  second 
ransom  to  offer.  So  teaches  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews : 
"  There  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  a  certain 
fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation" 
(x.  26,  27).  To  such  a  man,  to  the  stubborn  reckless  sinner, 
the  death  of  Christ  is  a  fearful  thing :  for  he  is  in  fact  as 
guilty  of  Christ's  death,  as  if  he  had  himself  driven  the 
nails  into  his  hands  and  feet.  He  is  crucifying  the  Son  of 
God  afresh  :  he  is  putting  him  by  his  evil  deeds  to  open 
shame.  To  such  a  man,  I  say,  the  death  of  Christ  ought  to 
be  a  fearful  thing.  But  to  the  penitent,  humble,  pious,  and  . 
thankful  Christian,  it  is  the  happiest,  the  most  comfortable,  | 
the  most  blessed  event  that  ever  took  place.  It  wipes  out 
his  transgressions :  it  confirms  his  pardon :  it  secures  his 
acceptance  with  God.  "  What  shall  we  say  to  these  things  ?  " 
The  words  are  St.  Paul's :  and  I  know  not  how  I  can  con- 


134 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


elude  better  than  by  repeating  them.  "  What  shall  we  then 
say  to  these  things  ?  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against 
us  ?  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him 
up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us 
all  things  ?  Who  shall  lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  God's 
elect  ?  It  is  God  that  justifieth  :  who  is  he  that  condemneth? 
It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who  is 
even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession 
for  us.  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  I 
am  persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor 
principaHties,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall 
be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  (Rom.  viii.  31-39.)  But  remember, 
my  brethren,  that,  as  St.  John  tells  us,  "  he  who  hath  this 
hope  in  him,  purifieth  himself,  even  as  Christ  is  pure." 


XII. 

THE   GOSPEL  NEWS; 

OR, 

CHRIST'S  VICTORY. 

Isaiah  Hi.  7. 

How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that 
bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace ! 

'T^HE  message  which  our  Saviour  brought  down  to  us 
-*-  from  heaven,  is  called  in  the  New  Testament  the  Gospel, 
or  the  good  news,  of  Jesus  Christ :  and  the  words  spoken 
by  the  angel  to  the  shepherds  were  much  to  the  same  pur- 
pose :  "  Behold,  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy." 
Now  what  are  these  good  tidings  ?  what  is  this  good  news, 
which  our  Lord  took  so  long  and  so  toilsome  a  journey  to 
bring  us  ?  this  good  news,  the  light  of  which  brightened  his 
feet  as  he  trod  over  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  when  he 
came  to  declare  it  to  those  who  were  sitting  in  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death  ?  Those  among  you  who  are  old 
enough  to  remember  the  late  war,  will  be  best  able  to 
answer  this  question.  For  they  will  know  what  good  news 
in  time  of  war  means.  In  those  days,  if  one  heard  the 
woxdi?, good 7ieius,  one  immediately  asked:  ''What!  have  we 
gained  a  great  victory  by  sea  }  or  a  great  victory  by  land  } 


136  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Have  our  sailors  taken  the  enemy's  fleet  ?  or  our  soldiers 
beaten  the  enemy's  army  ?  And  is  the  victory  so  complete 
a  one  as  to  give  any  hopes  of  peace  ?"  These  are  the 
questions  which  everybody  was  wont  to  ask  some  years 
ago,  when  mention  was  made  of  good  news.  Now  if  in 
answer  to  these  questions  we  had  been  told,  *'  The  good 
news  just  received  is  not  solely  about  a  victory  by  land,  nor 
solely  about  a  victory  by  sea,  nor  solely  about  peace,  but 
about  all  three  together  :  for  we  have  beaten  all  our  enemies 
in  every  possible  way :  we  have  beaten  them  both  by  sea 
and  by  land,  and  so  thoroughly,  that  we  are  sure  of  making 
a  safe  and  glorious  peace  to-morrow,  provided  we  do  not 
throw  away  the  opportunity," — if,  I  say,  we  had  heard  an 
answer  of  this  sort  to  our  questions  about  the  good  news, 
how  happy,  how  proud,  how  well  satisfied  should  we  have 
been  !  We  should  have  said,  *'  This  surely  is  the  very  best 
news  that  was  ever  brought  to  England." 

Now  the  good  news  which  our  Lord  brought  us  from 
heaven,  is  just  news  of  this  kind.  He  came  on  purpose  to 
help  us  in  our  warfare  :  because  he  saw  we  were  getting  the 
worst.  I  need  not  remind  you  in  what  warfare  the  children 
of  Adam  were  engaged  at  his  coming  :  for  the  same  warfare 
is  going  on  now.  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  that  I  should 
tell  you  who  our  enemies  were :  for  they  were  the  same 
against  whom  we  are  still  enlisted,  against  whom  we  have 
still  to  wage  battle.  Sin  and  death  were  in  those  days,  as 
they  are  still,  the  great  enemies  of  mankind;  and  there 
seemed  to  be  no  possible  end  of  the  war,  short  of  our  utter 
discomfiture  and  destruction.  Sin  and  Death  were  fighting 
side  by  side  against  us :  the  devil,  like  a  mighty  warrior, 
who  had  never  found  his  match,  was  raging  fiercely :  and  all 
whom  he  caught  and  seized,  the  grave,  opening  its  wide 
mouth,  swallowed  up :  so  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  hope 
left  for  man.     It  was  in  this  sad  state  of  the  war,  when 


GOSPEL   NEWS.  1 37 


things  were  thus  going  against  us,  that  Jesus,  the  Captain  of 
our  salvation,  came  down  to  our  help  and  rescue.  Have 
you  ever  thought  of  David  delivering  the  lamb  out  of  the 
lion's  mouth,  and  smiting  the  lion  and  the  bear,  that  had 
come  to  attack  his  father's  flock  ?  You  will  then  have  a 
lively  image  of  our  helplessness  in  the  clutches  of  Sin  and 
Death,  until  Jesus  vouchsafed  to  come  and  deliver  us  from 
those  iron  clutches.  For  we  are  God's  flock ;  and  out  of 
that  flock,  Satan,  that  roaring  lion,  was  not  merely  taking  a 
single  lamb  :  he  was  carrying  off  the  whole  flock  one  by  one, 
to  tear  and  mangle  and  devour,  when  the  glorious  Son  of 
David,  seeing  and  pitying  our  wretchedness,  came  to  our 
aid,  and  fought  and  conquered  for  us,  and  delivered  us  from 
the  jaws  of  our  destroyer,  and  therewith  from  the  power  and 
fear  of  death.  This  is  the  good  news, — news  of  a  victory 
over  Sin,  news  of  a  victory  over  Death, — news  lastly  of  a 
reconciliation  with  our  God  and  Father,  against  whom  we 
had  been  lured  by  our  enemy  Sin  to  be  guilty  of  treachery 
and  rebellion.  And  is  not  this  the  best  of  all  news  ?  Is  it 
not  a  good  thing  to  know  that  we  can  now  resist  Sin  through 
the  grace  of  Christ,  who  makes  us  more  than  conquerors  ? 
Is  it  not  a  good  thing  to  know  that  we  have  no  more  to  fear 
Death,  now  that  Christ  has  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light,  and  set  it  clearly  before  our  eyes?  Above  all,  is  it 
not  a  blessed  thing  to  be  assured  that  God  wiU  receive  us 
into  favour,  notwithstanding  our  manifold  offences,  if  we  will 
turn  to  him,  and  trust  in  his  promises,  and  believe  that  he 
can  and  will  forgive  us,  and  act  as  becomes  the  penitent 
who  have  been  pardoned  ? 

Is  not  this,  I  say,  the  very  best  of  news  ?  Now  this  is  the 
very  news  that  Jesus  brought  us.  He  has  not  put  an  end 
to  the  war  as  yet ;  but  he  has  set  it  quite  on  a  new  footing. 
Sin  is  still  abiding  in  the  world,  notwithstanding  the  victories 
of  Jesus,  just  as  a  remnant  of  the  Canaanites  was  left  on  the 


138  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


borders  of  the  promised  land,  notwithstanding  the  victories 
of  Joshua.  Those  Canaanites,  the  Bible  tells  us,  were  left 
to  try  the  children  of  Israel,  and  to  teach  them  war  (Judges 
iii.  1,2):  and  it  is  perhaps  for  a  like  reason  that  Sin  is  still 
left  on  earth,  in  order  that  we  may  be  put  to  the  test,  to 
prove  whether  we  choose  to  obey  God  or  no,  and  that  we 
may  be  trained  to  our  duties  as  Christ's  soldiers  by  a  course 
of  hard  service  against  God's  enemies.  These  seem  to  be 
among  the  reasons  why  Sin  is  still  permitted  to  carry  on  war 
against  us,  and  w4iy  Death,  which  is  inseparable  from  Sin, 
still  goes  on  prowling  about  the  world.  But  though  the  w^ar 
is  still  raging  between  the  children  of  Adam  on  the  one  side, 
and  Sin  and  Death  on  the  other  side,  how  different  are  the 
prospects  of  that  war  since  Jesus  came  to  our  aid  !  Before 
his  birth  the  struggle  seemed  hopeless.  Here  and  there 
perhaps  one  or  two  might  be  enabled  to  make  a  fight ;  like 
good  old  Simeon,  and  Anna  the  prophetess,  and  righteous 
Zachariah,  and  Nathanael,  and  the  good  centurion :  and 
doubtless  there  were  a  few  more,  whose  names  are  known  to 
God  only.  But  for  the  great  bulk  of  mankind,  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  the  battle  against  Sin  was  in  those  days  quite 
hopeless.  Sin  was  every  day  waxing  stronger,  and  spread- 
ing wider ;  goodness,  on  the  other  hand,  was  growing  weaker 
and  rarer.  Man  felt  himself  to  be  overmatched  by  Sin  :  he 
was  utterly  unable  to  make  head ;  indeed  he  could  scarcely 
lift  up  his  hand  against  it. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  war  at  Christ's  coming.  Satan 
was  carrjang  all  before  him :  and  man  had  no  chance  of 
victory.  But  all  this  is  now  changed,  and  most  blessedly 
tor  the  better.  We  are  no  longer  the  weaker  side.  While 
the  power  of  Sin  and  Satan  has  been  much  lessened  by 
Christ's  coming,  our  weakness  has  been  much  strengthened 
by  helps  of  various  kinds  :  so  that  he  who  fights  under 
Christ's  standard,  may  fight  with  good  courage,  knowing 


GOSPEL    NEWS. 


139 


what  those  helps  are ; — knowing  that  his  heavenly  Captain 
has  provided  armour  of  proof  for  him,  a  helmet  of  salvation, 
a  breastplate  of  righteousness,  a  shield  of  faith,  armour  strong 
enough,  if  we  only  put  it  on,  to  save  us  from  all  the  darts 
and  bullets  of  the  enemy.  Nor  is  the  giving  us  this  armour 
all  that  Christ  has  done,  to  aid  us  in  our  hard  warfare.  He 
has  sent  his  Spirit  to  strengthen  us  while  we  are  standing. 
He  has  given  us  his  cross  to  catch  hold  of  when  we  are  fall- 
ing. He  has  proclaimed  that  we  are  at  peace  with  God, 
that  we  may  fight  with  a  better  heart.  He  has  promised 
and  assured  us  of  a  glorious  triumph  for  every  one  who  will 
fight  his  best.  Moreover  he  has  declared  that,  though  Death 
is  allowed  for  the  present  to  mow  down  the  bodies  of  his 
faithful  soldiers,  its  power  over  them  shall  cease  after  a 
time,  and  that  then  he  will  raise  them  up  to  life  again. 
Rejoice,  therefore,  ye  that  mourn  ;  be  comforted,  ye  that  are 
in  affliction :  let  your  tears  be  turned  into  smiles,  your  sobs 
into  thanksgivings ;  for  the  Lord  has  brought  you  good 
tidings  of  consolation  concerning  all  who  have  died  in  his 
faith  and  fear. 

Such  is  the  news  which  Jesus  has  brought  us.  Such  is 
the  blessed  change  in  the  prospects  of  our  warfare,  which 
our  Lord  has  wrought  for  his  faithful  soldiers.  Whereas 
men  before  could  not  cope  with  sin,  we  may  now  be  sure  of 
overcoming  it.  Whereas  men  before  shuddered  at  the 
thought  of  death,  as  the  dark  and  dismal  end  of  all  things, 
we  have  now  been  taught  to  look  upon  it  as  the  gate  of  a 
more  glorious  life.  Whereas  men  before  felt  that  they  were 
at  enmity  with  God,  and  therefore  could  not  love  him  or 
take  pleasure  in  him,  they  now  know  that  he  is  ready  to 
receive  them  into  favour,  and  will  treat  them  as  sons,  if  they 
will  only  behave  to  him  as  such. 

But  some  of  the  more  unlearned  among  you  may  perhaps 
ask,  "  How  can  we   be  sure  that  these  things  are   so  ? " 


I40  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Because  they  are  all  written  in  the  New  Testament;  in 
which  the  good  news  of  Jesus  Christ  is  published  and 
declared  to  the  sons  of  men,  and  is  handed  down  from 
generation  to  generation,  without  the  possibility  that  any- 
thing should  be  added  to  it,  or  anything  taken  away  from 
it,  or  anything  altered  in  it.  There  it  stands  unchanged 
and  unchangeable  in  every  essential  point,  the  very  same 
good  news  which  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  and  St.  Paul 
preached  to  the  people  of  their  time,  and  then  wrote  down 
for  our  instruction.  That  the  New  Testament  does  indeed 
set  forth  all  I  have  been  telHng  you  about  the  good  news  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  great  advantages  of  his  coming,  three 
texts  from  St.  Paul  will  suffice  to  prove.  The  first  of  them 
describes  the  wretched  plight  in  which  even  the  better  part 
of  mankind  were  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  because  they 
felt  themselves  unable  to  contend  with  sin :  the  second 
speaks  of  the  victory  which  Christ  has  given  us :  the  third 
of  the  happy  peace  which  he  has  made  between  sinners  and 
the  God  of  heaven. 

The  first  text  is  this  :  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  (Rom.  vii. 
24.)  That  is  to  say,  who  shall  deliver  man  from  the  yoke 
of  sin,  which  hangs  like  a  dead  weight  about  him,  clogging 
and  hindering  him  in  his  efforts  after  holiness  ?  Can  any 
words  be  stronger  ?  Could  a  man  more  feelingly  express 
the  loathsomeness  of  the  sin  which  held  him  in  its  bondage, 
than  by  calling  it  a  body  of  death,  and  likening  it  to  a 
dead  body  which  he  could  not  help  carrying  about  with 
him  ?  And  who  has  delivered  man  from  this  dead  body  ? 
The  answer  is  given  in  the  next  verse  :  "  I  thank  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  God  has  delivered  us 
from  this  crushing  load  of  sin ;  and  he  has  done  it  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

But  this  glorious  truth  of  our  deliverance  is  still  more 


GOSPEL    NEWS.  1 41 


Strongly,  or  at  least  more  clearly,  stated  in  the  second  text : 
"  The  sting  of  death  is  sin  ;  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the 
law."  (i  Cor.  XV.  56.)  Here  death  is  represented  as  a 
serpent  with  a  sting,  which  draws  all  its  venom,  all  its 
terrors,  and  all  its  danger  from  sin  :  whereby  we  are  to 
understand  that,  were  there  no  such  thing  as  sin  in  this 
world,  we  should  have  no  reason  to  fear  death.  Why 
should  men,  why  do  they, — men  I  mean  who  have  never 
heard  of  the  Gospel, — shrink  from  lying  in  their  coffins, 
more  than  from  lying  in  their  beds  ?  Simply  because  they 
know  not  what  may  happen  to  them  after  death  :  and  the 
consciousness  of  having  offended  God,  the  fear  of  what  may 
befall  them  from  his  wrath,  must  needs  haunt  and  trouble 
a  man,  and  keep  him  from  dying  calmly.  These  are  the 
worst,  the  most  painful,  the  most  incurable  terrors,  which 
the  thought  of  death  can  awaken ;  and  they  draw  all  their 
poison  from  sin.  It  is  sin  too  that  gives  death  all  its 
dangers :  for  sin  alone  can  kill  the  soul.  After  having  thus 
represented  death  as  a  serpent,  the  apostle  goes  on  to  speak 
of  sin  as  an  enemy ;  which  is  the  same  figure  as  I  have  been 
making  use  of  above :  *'  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law." 
Here  Sin  is  described  as  a  strong  enemy  coming  against  us. 
And  how  is  he  armed  ?  in  what  does  his  great  strength  lie  ? 
In  the  law :  not  in  the  law  of  Moses  merely,  but  in  the  law 
written  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  have  the  gift  of  reason  and 
conscience.  This  law  Sin,  before  the  coming  of  Christ, 
brandished  in  every  man's  face,  crying  with  a  sneer  of  scorn, 
"  Do  this  or  die.  Look,  wretched  man,  look  here  at  this 
law  which  I  am  holding  up  to  your  eyes  !  Behold  here 
what  God  requires  of  you.  These  are  his  laws,  his  com- 
mandments !  Have  you  kept  them  ?  Have  you  done 
them  ?  all  ?  always  ?  You  have  not,  I  know  you  have  not. 
I  read  your  guilt  in  your  face.  Your  conscience  is  bearing 
witness  against  you,  that  you  have  not  kept  these  righteous 


142  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

1  iws.  Here  is  my  indictment  against  you  :  here  is  a  warrant 
Irom  God,  whose  laws  you  have  broken  :  here  is  a  sentence 
pronounced  on  you  by  the  just  Judge.  He  condemns  you 
for  your  disobedience  :  he  banishes  you  from  his  presence  : 
he  gives  you  over  to  me,  to  be  my  slave  and  victim  :  for  I 
am  Sin."  Such  is  the  boasting  language  which  we  may 
suppose  Sin  or  Satan  to  have  uttered  in  the  heart  of  a 
thinking  man  before  the  coming  of  Christ.  When  thus 
armed  with  the  law  of  God,  Sin  is  too  much  for  us.  So 
that  man  is  represented  by  St.  Paul  as  in  a  twofold  danger ; 
from  the  venomous  serpent,  Death,  and  from  the  strong 
enemy,  Sin.  Now  mark  what  comes  next ;  for  it  justifies 
all  I  have  told  you  about  the  good  news  of  Jesus  Christ : 
"  But  thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ! "  Here  St.  Paul  plainly  tells  us 
that,  notwithstanding  the  strength  of  sin,  notwithstanding 
the  poison  of  death,  God  has  given  us  the  victory  over  sin 
and  death,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

The  third  text  I  promised  to  lay  before  you,  was  to 
shew  that  Christ  has  made  peace  between  sinners  and 
the  King  of  heaven.  A  very  few  words  from  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  (v.  i)  will  prove  that.  ''Being  justified 
by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Thus  have  I  set  before  you  three  texts, — the  first  describ- 
ing the  wretchedness  of  our  state  before  the  coming  of 
Christ, — the  second  shewing  how  poisonous  death,  and  how 
strong  and  irresistible  sin  would  be,  unless  Christ  had  given 
us  the  victory  over  them,  and  assuring  us  that  Christ  has 
indeed  given  us  that  victory, — the  third  declaring  in  plain 
terms  that  we  are  now  at  peace  with  God.  This  then  is  the 
blessing  of  the  Gospel :  this  is  the  good  news  which  Christ 
has  brought  us.  If  peace  with  the  King  of  kings, — if  the 
being   reconciled  to  our   heavenly   Father, — if  a   glorious 


GOSPEL   NEWS.  1 43 


victory  over  Sin  and  Death, — if  our  deliverance  from  a 
heavy  and  loathsome  yoke,  which  none  but  Christ  could 
have  taken  off  our  necks, — if  all  this  deserves  the  name  of 
good  news, — then  is  the  Gospel  the  very  best  news  ever 
uttered  in  the  ears  of  mortal  man.  Shall  we  not  rejoice  at 
this  good,  this  glorious,  this  blessed  news  ?  No,  my  brethren  ; 
not  just  now.  This  is  no  day  for  rejoicing.  The  battle  | 
of  Trafalgar  was  the  greatest  naval  victory  the  English) 
ever  won.  It  wholly  crushed  the  power  of  the  enemy  by 
sea.  It  destroyed  the  gi-eat  fleet  which  he  had  fitted  out 
and  manned  to  invade  and  conquer  England.  Yet  when 
the  news  of  this  great  victory  came,  there  were  few  eyes 
that  did  not  shed  a  tear,  few  hearts  that  did  not  heave  a 
sigh.  The  joy  of  the  nation  was  dashed  with  sorrow.  For 
the  admiral,  to  whose  courage  and  skill  we  owed  that  vic- 
tory, fell  himself  at  the  moment  of  gaining  it.  He  bought 
it  for  us  with  his  life :  and  even  in  the  midst  of  our  triumph 
we  could  not  but  grieve  for  the  loss  of  so  brave  a  com- 
mander. My  brethren,  the  joy  of  a  Christian,  at  the  very 
best,  must  be  dashed  with  awe  and  sorrow.  Even  when  we 
rejoice  in  the  Lord,  we  must  rejoice  with  trembling.  But 
this  is  no  day  for  rejoicing  at  all.  It  is  a  day  for  sorrow,  a 
day  for  humiliation  and  shame.  You  have  heard  in  the 
second  lesson  and  the  Gospel  for  the  day,  how  great,  how 
inestimable  a  price  was  paid  for  the  victory  which  Christ 
won  for  us.  You  have  heard  how  the  Captain  of  our  salva- 
tion not  only  fought  and  conquered,  but  died  for  us.  Nay, 
it  was  by  dying  that  he  conquered  for  us.  His  death  was 
not  a  chance  of  war,  like  that  of  other  captains  :  he  laid  his 
life  down  by  his  own  will  and  deed  :  of  his  own  accord  he 
underwent  all  those  horrid  pains  and  insults :  he  came  from 
heaven  on  purpose  to  undergo  them :  because  it  had  pleased 
his  Father  to  decree  that  without  bloodshedding  there 
should  be  no  remission  of  sins,  that  except  through  the 


144  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

blood  of  the  holy  Jesus,  there  should  be  no  salvation  for 
mankind.  It  is  this  that  makes  the  story  so  touching,  so 
full  of  woe.  We  see  the  Lamb  of  God,  with  all  the  help- 
lessness of  a  lamb,  coming  meekly  and  resignedly  to  the 
sufferings,  which  his  human  nature  shrank  from.  We 
see  him  leaning  over  the  deep  gulf,  which  was  yawning 
darkly  before  his  feet, — looking  down  into  it  with  a  trem- 
bling eye,  which  pierced  to  its  lowest  depths,  and  counted 
up  all  its  miseries  and  horrors, — and  then  saying,  "  This  pit 
is  very  terrible  ;  but,  if  it  be  thy  will,  O  my  Father,  that  I 
should  suffer  this,  I  am  content.  If  there  be  no  way  to 
save  mankind  from  falling  into  this  gulf,  except  by  falling 
into  it  myself,  let  them  lead  me  and  cast  me  in."  Surely 
when  we  are  commemorating  this  painful,  this  merciful 
sacrifice  and  self-devotion  of  the  Son  of  God  for  our  sakes, 
the  good  news  of  the  Gospel,  full  of  comfort  as  it  is,  should 
awaken  us  to  sorrow  and  shame. 

Yes,  my  brethren,  we  should  be  smitten  with  shame,  as 
well  as  with  sorrow,  by  the  thought  of  Christ's  sufferings. 
Indeed  the  sorrow  would  be  unprofitable,  without  the  shame. 
For  why  did  Christ  undergo  all  this  extreme  anguish  and 
agony  ?  what  was  the  cause  of  his  sufferings  ?  Your  sins 
and  mine.  He  died  for  our  sins.  How  then,  with  this 
dismal  truth  staring  us  in  the  face,  how  can  we  carry  our 
heads  aloft,  as  if  we  had  no  reason  for  self-abasement? 
What  would  you  have  done  if  you  had  been  Jews,  and  if, 
after  having  stood  among  the  mob  around  Pilate's  judgment- 
seat, — after  crying  out,  "Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas  !" — 
you  had  been  converted  by  the  preaching  of  the  apostles  ? 
Such  Jews  there  must  no  doubt  have  been  :  some  assuredly 
must  have  been  converted  by  the  apostles  after  our  Lord's 
ascension,  who  but  a  while  before  had  joined  in  crying, 
'' Crucify  him!  crucify  him !  Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas  !" 
Now  I  ask,  had  you  been  among  those  Jews,  how  would 


GOSPEL    NEWS.  1 45 


you  have  felt  when  Good  Friday  came  round  again  ?  Would 
it  have  been  a  pleasant  thought  to  you,  that  on  that  day 
}'ear,  or  two  years,  you  had  been  boisterously  lifting  up  your 
voice  against  your  Saviour,  the  innocent  and  holy  Jesus? 
Would  you  have  felt  quite  satisfied  with  yourselves,  when 
the  return  of  that  day  brought  the  remembrance  of  Christ's 
sufferings  home  to  you  ?  Would  you  not  rather  have 
humbled  yourselves  to  the  earth  at  the  recollection  of  your 
crime  ?  If  you  would,  humble  yourselves  now.  If  you 
have  ever  been  guilty  of  any  wilful  sin,  humble  yourselves 
now.  For  whoever  commits  any  action  which  Jesus  has 
forbidden,  whoever  cherishes  any  feeling  or  temper  which 
Jesus  disapproves,  whoever  prefers  a  gainful  injustice,  an 
angry  passion,  an  evil  lust,  to  the  service  of  his  Lord  and 
Master,  every  such  person  by  his  deeds,  if  not  by  his  words, 
declares  as  plainly  as  the  Jews  did,  "  I  will  not  have  this 
man  to  reign  over  me  :  not  this  man,  but  Barabbas  !  I  will 
have  none  of  the  purity  and  self-denial  of  Jesus :  I  like 
drunkenness  and  rioting  and  debauchery  far  better.  I  will 
have  none  of  his  humility :  give  me  pride.  I  will  have 
none  of  his  gentleness  :  give  me  anger.  I  will  have  none 
of  his  tender-heartedness  :  give  me  an  easy  careless  indif- 
ference to  the  sufferings  and  griefs  of  others."  How  many 
in  every  place  think  thus,  though  they  may  not  say  it !  Yet 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  every  sinful  action  is  an  open 
rejecting  of  our  Lord  and  Master,  and  a  preferring  of  some 
vile  Barabbas  to  him. 

Methinks,  however,  some  one  among  you  is  whispering 
to  himself, — "  This  may  be  all  very  true  of  my  neighbours  ; 
but  happily  it  is  not  true  of  me.  God,  I  thank  thee,  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are.  I  have  never  swerved  from  the 
path  of  duty.  I  have  kept  all  the  commandments  from  my 
youth  upwaixl.  Therefore  I  have  no  need  to  humble 
myself."     Yes, — I  would  say  to  the  man,  who  has  this  flat- 

L 


146  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

tering,  this  mistaken,  this  false  opinion  of  himself, — yes, 
even  you  have  great  need  of  humbling  yourself,  for  not 
loving  God  and  his  Son  more.  Your  words  prove  that  you 
do  not  love  God  :  if  you  did  love  him,  you  could  never  look 
on  yourself  as  righteous  before  him.  The  self-righteous  and 
self-satisfied  have  no  idea  of  spiritual  love  :  yet,  if  they  are 
without  that,  they  are  nothing.  To  love  our  God,  our  Lord 
tells  us,  is  the  first  and  great  commandment :  how  then  can 
any  one  pretend  that  he  has  kept  all  the  commandments, 
when  the  love  of  God  has  no  place  in  his  heart?  Nor  is  it 
enough  to  love  the  Father,  unless  we  love  the  Son  also,  for 
having  done  and  suffered  such  great  and  terrible  things  on 
our  behalf.  The  man  who  can  read  the  story  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, and  know  that  it  was  for  his  sake,  for  his  redemption, 
that  Christ  gave  up  the  happiness  of  heaven,  and  vouchsafed 
to  become  man,  and  to  undergo  a  lingering  and  shameful 
death, — the  man,  I  say,  who  can  know  all  this,  without 
returning  love  for  love,  and  feeling  most  deeply  thankful  for 
such  wonderful,  such  unmerited  goodness, — such  a  man 
may  be  decent  in  his  behaviour  ;  he  may  lead  a  respectable 
life  ;  he  may  be  esteemed  a  man  of  honesty  and  honour ; 
but  assuredly  he  has  not  the  heart  of  a  man,  much  less  the 
spirit  of  a  Christian.  Humble  yourselves  therefore,  ye  self- 
righteous,  and  grieve  over  your  want  of  love  :  humble  your- 
selves, and  cast  yourselves  on  the  ground  before  your  cruci- 
fied Lord. 


XIII. 

RISE  WITH  CHRIST. 

COLOSSIANS  iii.  I. 

If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above. 

"  /~^HRIST  is  risen  !"     Such  is  the  greeting  in  Russia  on. 

^-'  the  morning  of  Easter  Day.  In  the  great  city  of 
Moscow,  and  throughout  the  whole  country,  when  two 
friends  met  on  this  morning,  one  of  them  says  to  the  other, 
"  Christ  is  risen  ! "  Among  all  the  customs  I  ever  read  of, 
this  to  my  mind  is  one  of  the  most  christian  and  most  beau- 
tiful. It  is  seeing  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  in  its  true 
light,  not  as  a  fact  which  we  are  merely  to  believe,  because 
it  is  written  in  the  New  Testament,  without  thinking  or 
caring  much  about  it,  but  as  a  piece  of  good  news  to  our- 
selves, which  we  cannot  help  speaking  of  for  joy.  What 
the  Russians  then  have  said  to  each  other  on  Easter  Day  for 
hundreds  of  years,  let  me  say  to  you :  let  me  now  say  to 
you  with  a  joyful  and  thankful  heart,  "  Christ  is  risen." 

The  battle  is  over.     The  great  contest  between  God,  the 
incarnate  Son,  fighting  for  us,  and  Sin  and  Death  fighting  ^' 
against  us,  is  decided.     Sin,  having  first  been  baffled  by  the 
life  of  blameless  holiness,  and  unwearied  active  goodness, 
which  the  man  Jesus  so  long  led,  was  conquered  upon  Good 


148  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Friday  on  the  cross.  Death,  the  last  and  only  remaining 
enemy,  was  conquered  this  morning  by  the  Resurrection. 
The  victory  is  complete.  Their  yoke  is  broken  :  their  sting 
is  taken  away :  we  have  nothing  more  to  fear  from  either. 
For  Christ  has  risen,  and  by  his  rising  has  assured  us  that 
we  shall  rise  also. 

This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
is  so  joyous,  so  heart-stirring  an  event :  because  it  assures 
us  that,  if  we  follow  the  steps  of  his  holy  life,  we  too  shall 
rise  from  the  grave  as  he  did.     But  there  is  also  another 

(resurrection  of  Christ's  followers,  of  which  the  apostles  are 
w^ont  to  speak,  and  of  which  they  are  wont  to  consider  their 
Lord's  resurrection  as  a  type.     And  this  resurrection  is  to 
take  place  even  while  we  continue  in  this  life,  before  we  are 
laid  in  the  grave.     All  who  believe  in  Christ,  says  St.  Paul 
again  and  again,  have  risen  with  him, — not,  will  rise  with 
him,  but  have  risen  with  him  already.     If  ye  be  risen  ivith 
Christ,  are  the  words  of  the  text, — not,  if  you  are  to  rise 
with  him  hereafter,  but  if  you  are  actually  risen  with  him  at 
this  time, — seek  the  things  which  are  above.     Now  what 
resurrection  can  this  be?    In  what  sense  can  a  Christian,  so 
•  ong  as  he  is  carrying  about  this  frail  and  perishable  body, 
be  said  to  be  risen?     In  the  chapter  before  the  text,  the 
apostle  tells  the  Colossians,  that  they  are  ''  buried  with  Christ 
in  baptism,  wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  him,  through  faith 
of  the  operation  of  God,  who  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead. 
And  you,  being  dead  in  your  sins,  hath  he  quickened  together 
with  him."     Thus  again,  when  writing  to  the  Romans,  he 
tells  them,  that  "  so  many  as  are  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ 
are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death,  that,  like  as 
Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life."     For  this 
reason  baptism  is  called  the  washing  of  regeneration,  that  is 
to  say,  of  a  new  or  second  birth.     This  too  is  what  the 


RISE   WITH    CHRIST.  1 49 


Catechism  teaches  us,  namely,  that  the  inward  and  spiritual 
grace  of  baptism,  or  the  spiritual  benefit  to  which  we  are 
admitted  by  it,  is  a  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new  birth  unto 
righteousness. 

Hence  we  learn  that  all  who  have  been  baptized,  all  who 
have  been  received  into  Christ's  family,  ought  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  having  died  with  Christ,  which  death  in  them 
should  be  a  death  unto  sin.  Moreover,  they  should  "consider 
themselves  as  having  risen  with  Christ,  by  a  new  birth  unto 
righteousness.  And  having  so  risen,  they  should  shew  that 
they  have  indeed  risen  with  Christ,  by  leading  a  new  life,  ^ 
and  seeking  the  things  which  are  above.  As  Christ  did  not 
break  loose  from  the  grave  to  tarry  on  earth,  but,  having 
risen  from  the  dead,  ascended  into  heaven,  so,  instead  of 
lingering  among  the  things  of  earth,  we  too,  as  the  Collect 
for  Ascension-day  expresses  it,  should  ascend  into  heaven  in 
heart  and  mind,  and  dwell  there  with  him  continually. 

In  the  first  place  every  member  of  Christ's  Church  should 
look  upon  himself  as  having  died  with  Christ,  which  death 
in  him  must  be  a  death  unto  sin.  "  They  that  are  Christ's 
(says  St.  Paul)  have  crucified  the  flesh  with  its  affections  and 
lusts"  (Gal.  V.  24):  that  is  to  say,  they  have  done  their 
utmost  to  root  out  and  destroy  the  evil  passions  and  inclina- 
tions natural  to  sinful  man.  St.  Peter  in  the  same  spirit, 
and  nearly  in  the  same  words,  writes  thus :  "  Christ  bare 
our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being  dead 
to  sins,  should  live  unto  righteousness"  (i.  ii.  24).  But 
why  is  the  forsaking  sin, — which  of  course  is  the  thing  signi- 
fied,—called  a  death  unto  sin  ?  It  seems  to  be  so  called  for 
two  reasons :  to  express  the  completeness  of  the  reformation 
and  amendment  which  the  Gospel  requires  from  the  sinner; 
and  to  express  its  difficulty  and  its  painfulness. 

For,  if  we  are  to  crucify  the  flesh,  with  its  affections  and 
lusts,  it  is  clear  that  sin  is  not  a  thing  to  be  played  or  trilled 


150  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


Avith,  or  to  be  treated  tenderly.  We  are  not  to  make  any 
(covenant  or  truce  with  it,  nor  to  shew  it  any  mercy.  Death, 
Ideath  is  the  word.  We  are  to  treat  sin,  as  Saul  was  com- 
manded to  treat  those  sinners,  the  Amalekites :  we  are  to 
give  it  no  quarter :  we  are  to  fight  against  it  until  it  is  utterly 
destroyed.  Death,  which  is  the  portion  of  the  rebel, — 
— death,  which  is  the  portion  of  the  murderer, — death, 
wliich  is  the  certain  doom  of  vipers,  and  hornets,  and  other 
evil  and  venomous  creatures,  whenever  we  can  get  at  them 
to  kill  them, — death,  and  nothing  less,  is  the  sentence 
which  God  has  passed  upon  sin.  And  what  can  be  juster 
or  more  fitting,  even  by  our  own  rules  ?  For  is  not  sin  the 
great,  the  universal  murderer,  that  first  brought  death  into 
the  world  ?  Is  not  it  poisonous  and  deadly  to  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men  ?  No  wonder  then  that  sentence  of  death 
has  been  pronounced  against  it!  a  sentence  from  which 
there  is  no  reprieve.  We  must  execute  it  on  and  in  our- 
selves, if  we  would  not  have  it  executed  upon  us.  As  Saul 
lost  the  kingdom  of  Israel  by  sparing  Agag  and  the  best  of 
the  sheep  and  oxen,  so  shall  we  lose  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
if  we  spare  a  single  one  of  those  sins,  which  we  are  com- 
manded utterly  to  destroy. 

If  the  Gospel  then  had  said  no  more  than  this,  kill  and 
destroy  sin,  pluck  it  up  by  the  roots  and  cast  it  from  you, — 
it  would  have  laid  down  a  rule  wholly  irreconcilable  with  all 
that  parleying  and  truce-making,  with  all  that  harbouring 
and  pampering  of  sin,  which  unhappily  is  so  common.  But 
Scripture  not  only  bids  us  destroy  sin :  it  says.  Die  unto 
I  sin.  Mark  the  strength  of  the  expression :  Die  unto  sin . 
The  dead  know  not,  nor  care  for  anything  in  this  world. 
Their  love  and  hatred  and  envy  are  clean  wiped  out.  A 
dead  man  is  as  cold  and  niotionless  as  a  stone,  to  all  that 
the  living  make  the  greatest  stir  about.  How  perfectly 
then,  how  entirely,  ought  we  to  be  free  from  sin,  in  order  to 


RISE   WITH    CHRIST.  151 

be  dead  to  it !  It  is  not  enough  to  keep  from  outward  acts 
of  sin,  if  the  heart  cherishes  any  secret  hking  for  it.  This 
is  not  dying  to  it.  Before  we  can  attain  to  that  perfect 
sinlessness,  our  hearts  must  be  as  completely  closed  against 
i  the  tempter,  as  if  we  were  nailed  down  in  our  coffins ;  our 
ears  must  be  deaf  to  his  voice;  our  eyes  must  be  blind  to 
his  charms.  We  must  not  only  give  up  every  evil  practice ; 
we  must  also  stifle  every  evil  desire.  Nothing  less  can 
deserve  the  name  of  being  dead  to  sin.  This  then  is  the 
perfection  of  innocency  which  we  are  to  strive  after.  I  do 
not  say,  that  we  shall  ever  reach  it;  but  by  the  help  of 
God's  Holy  Spirit  we  may  advance  toward  it :  we  may,  and 
we  ought  all,  to  be  ever  getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  it. 

Nor  does  this  scriptural  expression  of  dying  to  sin,  merely 
bespeak  the  completeness  of  the  deliverance  which  the 
Christian  ought  to  enjoy  from  the  yoke  and  chains  of  Satan: 
it  also  denotes  the  painfulness  and  difficulty  of  our  first 
steps  in  that  deliverance.  For  we  have  steps  to  take 
toward  that  end  ;  and  sometimes  very  painful  ones.  Christ 
has  not  done  so  much  for  us,  as  to  leave  us  nothing  to  do 
for  ourselves.  He  is  the  door;  but  we  must  enter  in  at  the 
door :  he  is  the  way ;  but  we  must  walk  along  the  way.  He 
is  our  most  merciful  and  only  Saviour :  but  in  such  wise, 
that  we  have  still  a  salvation  to  work  out,  and  that  too  with 
fear  and  trembling.  Now  the  beginning  of  this  work  of 
ours  is  often  so  painful,  the  struggle  a  man  has  to  go  through 
in  parting  with  his  sins  is  at  times  so  hard,  the  wrench 
needed  to  tear  him  from  his  evil  habits  is  not  seldom  so 
^  sharp,  that  the  Gospel  compares  it  to  dying.  After  death, 
as  you  know,  the  body  has  no  sense  or  feeling.  But  before 
we  can  arrive  at  the  quiet  state  of  death,  we  must  first  die  : 
and  though  death  is  calm  and  painless,  dying  is  often  diffi- 
cult and  painful.  Many  an  ache  must  be  undergone,  many 
a  struggle  made,  before  the  soul  can  work  her  way  through 


152  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

the  walls  of  the  fleshly  prison,  in  which  she  has  grown  and 
been  shut  up.  Thus  it  is  when  a  separation  takes  place 
between  the  soul  and  body;  and  thus  too  it  is  w^hen  a 
separation  takes  place  between  the  soul  and  sin.  Though 
the  soul,  when  it  has  once  broken  away,  and  got  loose  from 
what  held  it  captive,  even  from  the  chains  of  Satan,  when  it 
has  escaped  from  the  snare  of  the  fowler,  being  free,  is 
happy  and  at  ease,  still  the  exertion  needed  to  make  the 
escape,  the  effort  to  break  the  chain  is  often  very  trying  :  so 
that,  though  the  being  free  from  sin  is  a  calm  and  peaceful 
state,  which  the  Scripture  compares  to  death,  the  getting 
free  from  it  is  oftentimes  attended  with  such  hard  and 
grievous  strugglings,  that  the  Gospel  likens  it  to  dying. 

Thus,  you  see,  Christianity  begins  where  everything  else 
ends.  It  begins  with  death.  Death,  which  is  the  goal  of 
all  earthly  things,  is  the  starting-point  in  the  christian  race. 
We  are  to  set  out  on  our  course  toward  God  by  dying  unto 
sin.  This  however  is  only  the  beginning.  It  is  good  to 
get  rid  of  sin.  It  is  good  at  any  price  to  escape  from  the 
company  of  those  miserable  persons,  who,  as  St.  Peter 
expresses  it,  are  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of 
iniquity.  But,  though  this  is  good,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  does 
not  go  far  enough.  It  is  not  enough  to  die  unto  sin,  unless 
we  live  afterward  unto  righteousness. 

For  consider  what  death  is.  It  is  a  state  in  which  a  man 
can  do  nothing.  If  he  has  no  longer  the  power  of  doing 
(  wrong,  he  is  equally  without  the  power  of  doing  right.  The 
1  dead  cannot  serve  God :  for  in  death  no  man  remembereth 
him ;  nor  can  any  give  him  thanks  in  the  pit.  Nor  can  a 
dead  man  do  anything  for  his  fellow- creatures  :  for  there  is 
no  work,  or  device,  or  knowledge,  or  wisdom  in  the  grave. 
What  then  is  he  good  for  ?  For  nothing,  but  to  be  buried 
and  put  out  of  the  way.  Nor  is  death  merely  a  useless  state 
to  be  in  :  it  is  also  a  joyless  state.     If  a  man  can  do  no 


RISE   WITH    CHRIST.  I  53 


good  to  Others  in  the  grave,  neither  can  he  receive  any  good 
in  it  himself.  A  corpse  has  no  more  feeling  than  a  log  of 
wood,  and  is  just  as  incapable  of  enjoying  pleasure,  or  any 
sort  of  happiness  or  satisfaction.  Now  can  such  a  useless, 
such  a  joyless,  such  an  insensible  and  loglike  state,  be  a 
state  that  the  Lord  of  life  and  happiness  can  take  delight 
in  ?  When  God  created  the  world,  did  he  make  it  in  a 
state  of  death  ?  Nay,  the  world  was  dead  before ;  for  an 
uncreated  or  unborn  thing  is  all  one  as  if  it  were  dead. 
But  God  at  the  creation  called  it  out  of  death,  and  gave, 
not  to  man  only,  but  to  all  the  kinds  of  animals,  to  the  four- 
footed  beasts,  and  to  the  birds  and  fishes  and  insects, — to 
each  of  these  at  the  creation  God  gave  such  a  life  as  to  his 
wisdom  and  goodness  seemed  fitting  for  them.  It  is  life, 
and  not  death,  that  God  delights  in.  It  was  to  break  the 
bonHs'of  the  grave,  to  rescue  man  from  death,  that  Christ 
came  down  from  heaven.  Are  Christ's  people  then  to  be 
exceptions  to  the  great  rule  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  in  their 
case,  and  in  theirs  only,  God,  who  in  all  other  things  and 
creatures  takes  pleasure  in  life,  and  gives  it,  will  be  satisfied 
with  a  state  of  death  ?  Did  Christ  come  to  redeem  a  dead 
people  to  himself?  Far  from  it,  my  brethren  :  he  came  to 
bring  us  life,  not  in  the  next  world  only,  but  in  this  world 
also. 

Therefore,  after  dying  to  sin,  we  are  not  to  continue  dead ; 
but  we  are  to  be  born  again,  as  the  Scripture  calls  it,  and  to 
begin  living  in  good  earnest.  We  are  to  live  a  christian  life. 
You  know  what  life  is,  better  than  I  can  tell  you.  You 
know  it  to  be  the  opposite  to  death.  Is  death  an  inactive, 
a  torpid,  a  useless  state  ?  a  state  in  which  a  man  can  do  no 
good  ?  Life  should  be  an  active,  energetic,  useful  state : 
and  its  business  should  be  to  do  good.  Such  is  life,  and 
the  business  of  it.  What  then  is  a  christian  life  ?  It  is  a 
life  in  which  all  these  things  are  done  in  a  christian  spirit. 


154  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

It  is  a  life  of  which  the  activity,  the  energy,  the  usefulness, 
and  the  business  are  christian. 

But  I  will  set  this  before  you  in  another  light.  Let  us 
look  at  it  with  reference  to  Christ  himself.  He,  being  God 
on  earth,  led  a  divine  life  during  his  stay  here.  Now  what 
proof  did  he  give  us  of  this  life  ?  You  will  tell  me  perhaps, 
that  he  healed  the  sick,  that  he  raised  the  dead,  that  he 
calmed  the  raging  of  the  sea,  and  did  many  other  mighty 
works,  such  as  no  mere  man  can  do.  These  however, 
though  proofs  of  his  possessing  more  than  human  power, 
are  not  the  chief  signs  of  his  divinity.  The  greatest  proof 
of  that  i^vas  his  perfect  union  of  heart  and  mind  and  pur- 
pose with  the  Father.  It  was  his  "  meat,"  as  he  tells  us, 
*'  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  him,"  and  to  finish  his 
work.  This,  my  brethren,  is  the  best  proof  which  Christ 
gave,  or  indeed  could  give,  that  the  life  he  led  was  divine. 
Would  you  lead  a  christian  life  ?  Lead  such  a  life  as  Christ 
led.  No  life  unlike  his  can  be  a  christian  life ;  and  every 
life,  in  proportion  as  it  comes  near  to  his,  will  in  that  same 
degree  be  christian.  Our  Saviour  did  not  undergo  all  those 
grievous  pains  for  us,  merely  that  we  should  cease  to  commit 
sin.  It  is  not  for  that  negative,  that  slumbering,  for  that 
sluggish  and  inglorious  virtue,  that  he  has  prepared  the 
glories  of  his  kingdom.  He  did  not  come  to  reign  over  the 
dead :  nor  was  it  any  part  of  his  purpose  to  people  heaven 
with  drones  and  sleepers.  As  his  life  on  earth  was  active, 
as  he  spent  his  days  in  working  the  work  of  him  that  sent 
him,  so  must  all  Christians  do  Christ's  work  :  and  they  must 
strive  to  do  it  as  cheerfully,  as  faithfully,  and  as  constantly 
as  Christ  did  the  work  of  his  Father. 

Here  in  a  few  words  you  have  an  account  of  the  outward 
signs  of  the  christian  life.  The  Christian  is  just  as  busy 
as  other  men;  nay,  often  far  busier.  He  is  quite  as 
painstaking,  quite  as  careful  to  fit  his  means  to  his  end  ;  in 


RISE   WITH    CHRIST.  155 

a  word,  he  is  quite  as  much  alive  as  any  grovelling  child  of 
earth  can  be.  The  difference  between  them  is,  that  the 
child  of  earth  seeks  his  own  glory,  his  own  pleasure,  his '. 
own  advantage ;  while  the  Christian,  who  has  been  born 
again  a  child  of  heaven,  toils  and  labours  and  tasks  his 
mind  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  for  the  good  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  In  the  man  of  the  world,  self  in  some  shape  or 
other  is  uppermost :  whereas  in  the  Christian,  in  proportion 
as  he  is  a  Christian,  that  same  hateful  and  greedy  self  is 
undermost. 

This  is  one  great  difference  between  them.  A^_£ecaiid. 
.difference- is  pointed  out  in  -our  text.  The  true  Christian,! 
being  risen  with  Christ,  seeks  the  things  which  are  above  : ' 
while  the  man  who  is  no  Christian  at  heart,  whatever  he 
may  be  in  name, — and  many,  alas  !  are  called  Christians ; 
may  none  of  us  be  among  the  number !  who  have  no  more 
love  for  Christ,  or  thought  about  him,  than  the  untaught 
heathens, — such  men,  I  say,  have  all  their  [thoughts  and 
affections  set  on  things  below.  Their  plans,  their  views, 
their  wishes  and  desires,  never  rise  an  inch  above  the  earth. 
To  hear  them  speak,  or  see  them  act,  one  would  suppose 
they  had  made  a  league  with  death,  and  had  found  some 
secret,  known  only  to  themselves,  for  sealing  and  stopping 
up  the  grave.  One  would  imagine  that  they  fancied  them- 
selves certain  of  living  on  for  ever  here ;  or  at  least  that 
they  were  quite  sure,  if  by  any  accident  they  should  happen 
to  die,  of  being  never  called  to  live  again  hereafter.  Yet 
these  are  the  worldly-wise :  at  least  so  the  world  esteems 
them.  Wisdom  forsooth  !  What  would  these  wise  men 
say  of  a  person  who  knew  that  he  was  to  start  ere  long  on 
a  journey  to  some  distant  country, — that  he  was  to  go,  for 
instance,  to  the  burning  wilderness,  where  the  water-springs 
are  so  rare  and  scanty,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  so  scorching ; 
or  that  he  was  to  be  sent  to  some  newly  discovered  and  yet 


156  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

unpeopled  land,  where  a  man  is  sure  to  have  a  hard  time  of 
j  it,  unless  he  takes  a  stock  of  needful  things  with  him ; — and 
yet  the  man  knowing  all  this,  knowing  that  he  must  go 
sooner  or  later,  knowing  that  he  may  be  called  to  set  out  at 
a  moment's  notice,  makes  no  preparation  for  his  journey'  is 
not  even  at  the  pains  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  nature  of 
the  country  he  is  going  to,  consults  no  books,  asks  no  ques- 
tions, takes  no  steps  to  ascertain  the  soil  and  climate,  to 
find  out  how  to  guard  against  any  diseases  which  may 
prevail  there,  or  how  to  lead  a  comfortable  and  happy  life 
when  he  gets  there, — what  would  the  worldly-wise  say  of 
such  conduct  in  any  man  ?  Would  they  esteem  it  wise  ? 
Would  they  not  censure  and  ridicule  it  as  arrant  folly  ?  Yet 
what  is  the  improvidence  of  the  traveller,  who  makes  no 
preparations  for  his  destined  journey  to  the  wilderness,  or 
to  the  desert  and  unpeopled  land,  when  compared  with  the 
carelessness  and  the  madness  of  those  self-admiring  sons 
of  worid'y  wisdom,  who  go  on  year  after  year  without 
making  a  single  preparation  for  death,  and  the  judgment, 
which  they  must  needs  know  will  certainly  come  after  death, 
who  go  on  without  a  thought  or  care  for  heaven.  The 
Christian,  fool  as  the  world  considers  him,  has  certainly 
none  of  this  wisdom.  He  thinks  it  best  to  suit  his  plans  to 
his  condition.  Being  aware  that  he  is  God's  servant,  he 
tries  to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a  servant  of  God.  Knowing 
himself  to  be  an  heir  of  immortality,  he  is  diligent  to  sow 
and  foster  in  his  heart  the  seeds  of  those  christian  graces, 
which  are  sure  to  outlive  the  grave.  Trusting  that  he  shall 
be  admitted  hereafter  to  dwell  with  Christ  in  heaven,  he 
endeavours  to  prepare  himself  for  that  blissful  state  during 
the  time  he  remains  below,  by  seeking  those  things  which 
are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father. 

Now  what  are  those  things  ?     Generally  we  may  be  sure 


RISE    WITH    CHRIST.  I  57 

that,  by  the  things  which  are  above,  must  be  meant  all  such 
heavenly  things  as  can  be  brought  down  to  earth  and  under- 
stood here.  Therefore  every  feeling  and  every  disposition, 
which  can  gain  admittance  into  heaven,  and  meet  with 
favour  before  God,  must  be  included  among  those  things 
which  are  above,  and  which  the  apostle  commands  us  to 
seek.  t^ 

And'  first  undoubtedly  comes  hoHness,  without  which  no 
man  can  see  the  Lord.  But  what  is  holiness?  It  is  the 
likeness  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  God  is  the  Holy  One : 
and  they  who  are  fashioned  after  the  likeness  of  his  image, 
must  needs  be  holy  also.  "  Be  ye  holy,  as  I  am  holy,"  is 
the  rule  which  God  has  given  us  in  his  law  (Levit.  xi.  44) ; 
and  Jesus,  the  Holy  One  of  God,  has  shown  us  how  we  are 
to  keep  it.  But  you  will  tell  me  that  no  man  can  make 
himself  holy  ;  since  holiness  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God.  True,  my  brethren,  most  true.  Yet  still  it  is  neces- 
sary that  you  should  become  holy :  and  holy  you  may 
become,  although  you  cannot  make  yourself  so.  For,  in 
the  first  place,  you  can  abstain  from  all  those  unholy  and 
sensual  deeds,  which  St.  Paul  reckons  up  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians,  calling  them  works  of  the  flesh.  These 
works,  drunkenness,  revellings,  uncleanness,  and  the  rest, 
which  are  as  opposite  to  holiness  as  darkness  to  light,  and 
which  stain  and  blacken  the  soul, — these  foul  and  unholy 
works  you  can  all  abstain  from.  Indeed,  if  you  are  a 
Christian  in  truth,  as  I  said  above,  you  must  be  already 
dead  to  all  such  things.  .  Next,  you  can  all  pray  for  the 
help  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  God  has  promised  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  all  who  pray  for  that  help  earnestly.  "  If  ye, 
(says  Christ)  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children,  much  more  will  your  heavenly  Father  give  his  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  Therefore,  if  you  pray  for 
tiie  Holy  Ghost  earnestly,  he  will  come  to  you  :  if  you  con- 


15S  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

tinue  to  pray  for  him,  he  will  dwell  with  you  :  and  if  he 
dwells  with  you,  he  will  make  you  holy.  HoHness  then  is 
one  of  the  things  above,  which  every  Christian  is  to  seek. 

The  second,  which  I  shall  mention,  is  love.  God,  St. 
John  tell  us,  is  love  :  therefore,  as  God  is  in  heaven,  love 
must  be  in  heaven;  and  heaven  must  be  the  abode  of 
love.  Hatred  can  no  more  gain  admission  into  heaven, 
than  murder  :  for  he  that  hateth  is  a  murderer ;  that  is, 
in  his  bosom  he  cherishes  that  poisonous  seed  of  ill-will 
and  malice,  which  when  ripened  by  provocation  and  oppor- 
tunity, brings  forth  the  deadly  plant  of  murder.  I  do  not 
say,  that  everybody  who  harbours  a  grudge  against  his 
neighbour,  would  be  ready  to  kill  him,  if  he  could  do  it 
secretly.  In  very  many  cases  such  a  wicked  thought  never 
crosses  the  hater's  mind.  Were  he  taxed  v/ith  being  a 
murderer,  he  would  answer,  as  Hazael  did,  when  the  pro- 
phet Elisha  told  him  of  the  cruel  deeds  he  was  about  to 
perform,  "Is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this 
great  and  horrible  thing  ?"  Do  you  think  me  so  abominably 
wicked,  so  utterly  lost  to  all  sense  and  feeling  of  human 
kindness,  as  to  commit  this  foul  crime  ?  Hazael  at  the 
moment  thought  he  could  not  commit  such  a  crime.  Yet 
the  very  day  after  his  return  to  the  king  of  Syria,  "  he  took 
a  thick  cloth  and  dipped  it  in  water,  and  spread  it  on  his 
face,  so  that  he  died."  (2  Kings  viii.  15.)  In  the  same  way, 
so  deceitful  is  the  heart,  and,  when  unchecked  by  religion 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  so  prone  to  every  kind  of  wicked- 
ness, that  the  man  who  suffers  himself  to  hate  another,  can 
never  be  sure  where  he  will  stop.  He  has  the  cockatrice- 
egg  of  murder  in  his  bosom,  an  egg  which  by  God's  grace 
may  never  be  hatched  :  but  there  it  is ;  and,  if  a  man 
allows  his  mind  to  brood  on  it,  who  can  tell  what  mischief 
may  ensue  ?  Therefore  God,  who  foreknows  things  before 
they  come  to  pass,  and  who  beholds  the  effect  in  the  cause, 


RISE    WITH    CHRIST.  159 


the  action  in  the  motive,  has  declared  that  hatred  is  mur- 
der, because  it  is  the  root  of  murder ;  just  as  he  has  declared 
lust  to  be  adultery,  because  it  is  the  root  and  spirit  of 
adultery.  If  the  murderer  of  his  neighbour  will  be  shut  out 
from  heaven,  so  will  the  hater  of  his  neighbour.  If  the  first 
can  gain  no  entrance  into  the  new  Jerusalem,  neither  can 
the  other,  until  his  hate  be  melted  into  love.  Love  then  is 
one  of  the  things  above,  which  a  Christian  is  to  seek.  But 
what  kind  of  love  ?  A  real,  sincere,  hearty,  earnest,  fervent, 
active  love, — a  love  "  not  in  u^ord  or  in  tongue,  but  in  deed 
and  in  truth," — a  love  like  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
went  about  doing  good, — a  love  striving  to  be  like  him  who 
left  the  glories  of  heaven  to  die  on  the  cross  for  our  sakes. 

The  third  of  the  things  above,  which  I  would  have  you 
seek,  is  peace.  Christ  is  the  Prince  of  peace.  When  his 
warfare  and  ours  against  sin  is  accomplished,  when  Sin  and 
Death  have  been  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  then  will  the 
prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament  concerning  the  peacefulness 
of  Christ's  kingdom  be  fulfilled,  and  peace  shall  be  for  ever 
upon  the  Israel  of  God.  Those  therefore,  who  would  begin 
their  heavenly  life  on  earth,  must  be  careful  seekers  after 
peace,  avoiding  all  strife,  shunning  all  bitterness  and  evil- 
speaking  and  contention,  and  even  waging  the  war,  which 
we  are  bound  to  carry  on  against  wickedness,  in  a  mild  and 
peaceful  spirit.  For  these  are  the  Christian's  surest  arms, 
—forgiveness,  gentleness,  patience,  steady  and  persevering 
kindness ;  and  hard  indeed  must  be  the  heart  which  they 
cannot  pierce  and  subdue. 

Lastly,  we  must  seek  truth.  For  God  is  truth,  and 
loveth  truth.  All  lies,  on  the  other  hand,  all  manner  of 
falsehood  and  deceit,  all  underhand  tricks  and  juggling 
and  cheating,  come  from  the  devil,  from  him  who  is  a  liar, 
and  the  father  of  lies. 

Now  observe  how  all  these  christian  graces  strengthen 


l6o  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

and  support  and  fit  and  dovetail  into  each  other,  thus 
supplying  what  at  first  might  seem  wanting,  so  that  bv 
the  union  of  them  all  the  servant  of  Christ  is  thoroughly 
furnished  and  supplied  for  every  good  work.  Might  love 
and  gentleness  weaken  the  character,  and  unfit  it  for  walk- 
ing in  the  rougher  paths  of  duty,  from  fear  of  giving  offence  ? 
We  are  commanded  to  follow  after  truth  ;  and  thus  will  that 
weakness  be  corrected.  On  the  other  hand,  has  truth  a 
sternness,  which  might  frighten  sinners  away,  instead  of 
winning  them  over  and  reclaiming  them  ?  We  are  charged, 
"  If  a  man  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  to  restore  him  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness."  (Gal.  vi.  i.)  Thus  what  might  be  too 
severe  is  to  be  softened  by  the  gentleness  of  the  affections ; 
and  what  might  be  too  weak  is  to  be  strengthened  by  upright 
straightforward  principle.  It  is  this  union  of  principle  and 
of  love,  of  everything  most  zealous  in  action  with  everything 
most  patient  in  endurance,  that  made  up  the  perfect  beauty 
of  our  Saviour's  character,  while  he  lived  on  earth  ;  and  if  we 
are  his  people,  his  disciples,  his  followers,  his  brethren,  we 
must  endeavour  to  grow  like-minded  with  him.  If  we  are 
indeed  risen  with  Christ,  we  must  set  our  affections  on  things 
above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God. 


XIV. 

THE  ASCENSION. 

Psalm  Ixviii.  i8. 

Thou  art  gone  up  on  high,  thou  hast  led  captivity  captive, 
and  received  gifts  for  men  :  yea,  even  for  thine  enemies,  that 
the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them. 

"  I  ^HE  Psalm  from  which  these  words  are  taken,  was 
-*-  written  by  David  to  celebrate  the  removal  of  the  ark 
of  God  from  the  house  of  Obed-edom  to  Jerusalem.  The 
fullest  account  of  this  event  you  will  find  in  the  1 5th  chapter 
of  the  first  Book  of  Chronicles,  where  we  read  that  David, 
and  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  the  captains  over  thousands, 
went  to  bring  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  with 
joy.  It  must  have  been  a  glorious  sight  to  see  David,  and 
the  singers,  and  the  Levites  who  were  carrying  the  ark  upon 
their  shoulders,  with  its  golden  staves,  all  in  their  robes  of 
fine  linen,  and  then  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
who  were  following  with  shouts  and  music.  To  see  this 
procession  moving  up  Mount  Zion,  to  the  sound  of  trumpets 
and  psalteries  and  cymbals  and  harps,  while  the  singers 
were  singing  with  heart  and  voice  the  beautiful  68th  Psalm, 
which  David  had  written  for  this  great  occasion,  must 
indeed  have  been  a  glorious  sight,  and  one  to  make  the 
heart  of  every  pious  Jew  leap  within  him.  But  we  are  not 
Jews :    the  splendour  of  the  Levitical  service  has  passed 

M 


1 62  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

away :  the  ark  itself  has  perished  :  and  so  many  things 
concern  us  more  nearly  than  the  Jewish  feasts  and  cere- 
monies considered  in  themselves  can  do,  that,  if  the  68th 
Psalm  spake  of  nothing  greater  than  the  recovery  of  the  ark 
from  the  Philistines,  and  the  carrying  it  up  the  hill  of  Zion, 
beautiful  as  that  Psalm  is,  I  should  not  have  gone  to  it  for 
a  text,  at  least  at  the  present  season.  But  we  know  from 
St.  Paul  (Ephes.  iv.  8),  that  it  does  speak  of  an  event 
beyond  all  comparison  greater  and  more  interesting  to  us, 
and  that,  while  David  perhaps  only  meant  to  celebrate  the 
bringing  back  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  from  a  heathen 
land,  and  the  bearing  it  triumphantly  up  the  sacred  hill,  the 
Holy  Ghost  led  him  to  sing  of  Christ's  return  to  heaven  after 
his  abode  on  this  wicked  earth. 

The  same  is  the  case  with  many  other  prophecies.  We 
are  not  to  suppose  that  the  prophets  in  every  instance 
knew  that  they  were  inspired  to  speak  of  some  great  and 
distant  event.  In  many  cases  they  seemed  to  have  designed 
to  write  about  the  things  which  happened  to  interest  the 
Jewish  people  at  the  time.  But  it  was  ordained  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  that  their  words  should  have  a  further  mean- 
ing: so  that  what  they  said  about  matters  near  at  hand, 
should  be  prophetical  of  greater  matters  afar  off.  Thus  for 
example  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  the  immediate  subject 
doubtless  is  the  marriage  of  Solomon  and  his  Egyptian  bride. 
Still  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  there  :  and  the  union  of  our 
Saviour  and  his  Church  is  the  chief  thing  treated  of.  Thus 
too  the  45th  Psalm  was  probably  also  written  in  honour  of 
Solomon  and  the  Egyptian  princess.  But,  under  the  figure 
of  this  marriage,  the  majesty  and  grace  of  Christ's  kingdom, 
and  its  increase  among  the  Gentiles,  are  the  real  things  pro- 
phetically described.  Thus  again,  when  the  heart  of  king 
Ahaz,  and  the  hearts  of  his  people  were  troubled  by  the 
tidings  that  the  king  of  Syria  and  the  king  of  Samaria  were 


THE   ASCENSION.  163 


coming  up  to  war  against  them,  Isaiah  was  sent  to  comfort 
and  assure  them  that  the  league  should  come  to  nothing. 
Now  what  was  the  sign  promised  ?  That  "a  virgin  should 
conceive  and  bear  a  son,  and  that  they  should  call  his  name 
Immanuel,  which  being  interpreted  is,  God  with  us : "  a 
prophecy  which  evidently  points  to  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  God  in  the  flesh,  and  which  cannot  be  said  to  have  been 
fully  accomplished  until  Jesus  Christ  was  conceived  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Lastly,  not  to 
multiply  examples,  the  very  Psalm  from  which  my  text  is 
taken,  was  certainly  intended  to  celebrate  the  return  of  the 
ark  of  God  to  Jewry :  and  so  it  did :  but  it  likewise  cele- 
brates the  return  of  the  Son  of  God  to  heaven. 

Such  prophecies  are  called  double  prophecies;  because 
they  relate  to  two  things,  one  of  them  usually  near  at  hand, 
and  comparatively  unimportant,  the  other  far  off,  and  of  very 
great  importance.  Now  a  remarkable  thing  about  these 
double  prophecies, — and  it  well  deserves  notice,  as  being 
the  clearest  proof  that  they  were  inspired, — a  remarkable 
thing  in  these  double  prophecies  is,  that  the  words  used  in 
them  are  often  better  suited  to  the  more  distant  and  greater 
of  the  two  events,  than  to  the  matter  which  the  writer  him- 
self had  in  view.  So  is  it  for  example  in  the  Psalm  before 
us.  Look  at  the  words  of  the  text ;  and  you  will  find  that 
they  do  not  apply  to  the  bringing  back  of  the  ark  so  closely, 
they  do  not  fit  it  so  exactly,  nor  describe  it  so  faithfully, 
as  they  describe  the  ascension  of  our  Saviour.  For  what  is 
the  first  thing  asserted  in  them  of  the  ark  ?  That  it  had 
gone  up  on  high.  And  so  it  did,  in  a  certain  limited  sense ; 
for  the  hill  of  Zion  is  a  high  hill.  But  what  is  the  height  of 
the  hill  of  Zion,  when  compared  to  those  highest  heavens 
whereunto  our  Lord  ascended?  Of  him  then,  far  more 
than  of  the  ark,  can  it  be  truly  said  that  he  went  up  on  high. 
So  with  regard  to  the  rest  of  the   text, — "thou  hast  led 


164  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

captivity  captive,  thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men  :  yea,  even 
for  thine  enemies,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among 
them," — apply  these  words  to  the  ark,  and  they  seem  too 
great  for  the  occasion,  glorious  as  that  occasion  was.  Apply 
them  to  the  ascension  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  we  feel  them 
to  be  no  more  than  the  simple  truth.  For  he  did  indeed 
lead  captivity  captive;  he  did  indeed  receive  gifts  from  his 
heavenly  Father  to  bestow  on  his  enemies,  that  the  Lord 
God  might  dwell  among  them. 

Is  not  this  now  passing  strange  and  wonderful,  that  when 
a  man  means  to  speak  of  one  thing,  he  should  use  words 
which  are  found  to  apply  much  more  closely  and  accurately 
to  something  else,  something  at  a  great  distance,  something 
which  in  all  probability  the  speaker  little  thought  of?  Wonder- 
ful it  certainly  is ;  and  many  would  say,  it  is  unaccountable. 
But  we  will  not  call  it  unaccountable :  for  we  are  able  to 
account  for  it  very  easily.  We  know  from  St.  Peter  (2.  i.  20), 
that  no  prophecy  is  of  private  interpretation :  that  is,  pro- 
phecies were  never  meant  by  God  to  refer  solely  to  the  events 
of  the  times  when  they  were  spoken ;  but  they  pointed  far  into 
the  future,  to  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God.  So  that  the 
prophets  themselves  did  not  understand  them.  They  spake, 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit :  the  words  they 
uttered  were  not  their  own  words,  but  such  as  God  put  into 
their  mouths.  Their  tongues  were  guided  and  over-ruled  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  himself,  to  bear  witness  to  the  divinity,  to  the 
birth,  to  the  sufferings,  and  to  the  glories  of  the  blessed  Jesus. 

Having  thus  explained  the  nature  of  these  double  pro- 
phecies to  you,  I  shall  lead  you  step  by  step  through  the 
particular  prophecy  in  the  text.  It  consists  of  four  several 
parts.  Thou  hast  gone  up  on  high  ;  thou  hast  led  captivity 
captive ;  thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men ;  yea,  even  for 
thine  enemies,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them. 
Each  of  these  will  furnish  us  with  matter  for  a  distinct  head ; 


THE  ASCENSION.  1 65 


the  first  two  may  be  considered  now  j  the  others  I  must  keep 
for  another  day. 

First  then,  our  Saviour  has  '  gone  up  on  high :'  that  is,  he 
went  up  from  earth  in  his  human  form,  and  was  exalted  far 
above  all  creatures  to  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father.  I 
need  scarce  repeat  what  I  have  said  to  you  before,  that, 
when  we  speak  of  the  right  hand  of  God,  we  use  what  is 
called  a  figure  of  speech.  God  is  a  Spirit.  God  has  no 
body,  as  we  have :  therefore  he  cannot  have  hands.  Still 
the  expression  is  a  very  good  one,  and  not  hard  to  be 
understood.  We  are  assured  by  it  that,  just  as  an  earthly 
king  would  place  his  favourite  son  next  to  himself  on  his 
right  hand,  this  being  accounted  the  post  of  chief  honour, — 
so  the  highest  place  in  the  universe,  the  greatest  honour,  the 
nearest  and  closest  intimacy  with  the  almighty  and  eternal 
Father,  were  all  bestowed  on  Jesus  after  he  ascended  into 
heaven. 

But  how  do  we  know  this?  We  know  it  first  from 
St.  Stephen,  who,  "  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked  up 
steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of  God  :"  that  is, 
he  saw  that  bright  and  shining  light,  which  was  always 
understood  by  the  Jews  to  betoken  God's  more  immediate 
presence  ;  and  he  saw  Jesus  standing  at  the  side  of  it :  "  and 
he  said,  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of 
man  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  Again  we  know  it 
from  St.  Paul,  who,  as  he  was  journeying  to  Damascus 
before  his  conversion,  on  the  way  saw  a  light  from  heaven, 
above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  the  very  light  which  Stephen 
saw,  and  called  the  glory  of  God;  and  he  heard  a  voice 
saying  to  him,  "Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?" 
And  when  Saul  answered,  "Who  art  thou.  Lord?"  the  voice 
said  to  him,  "  I  am  Jesus."  We  know  it  also  from  several 
passages  of  the  New  Testament,  in  St.  Matthew,  in  St.  Mark, 
in  St.  Luke,  in  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul's  Epistles  :  in  all 


1 66  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

which  passages  we  are  told  plainly  that  Christ  is  seated  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  at  the  right  hand  of  power,  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  That  Christ  went  up 
into  heaven,  we  likewise  know,  because  the  apostles  saw 
him  ascend.  Hear  St.  Luke's  account  of  this,  as  it  is 
written  partly  at  the  beginning  of  the  Acts,  and  partly  in 
the  last  chapter  of  his  Gospel.  "  And  he  led  them  out  as 
far  as  to  Bethany,  and  lifted  up  his  hands  and  blessed  them ; 
and  while  he  blessed  them,  he  was  parted  from  them  :  and 
a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight.  And  while  they 
looked  steadfastly  toward  heaven,  as  he  went  up,  behold,  two 
men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel,  and  said.  Ye  men  of 
Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  This  same 
Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so 
come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven." 
Christ  therefore  ascended  in  a  bodily  shape  :  the  man  Jesus 
is  gone  up  into  heaven,  and  there,  O  great  and  wonderful 
exaltation  !  is  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

Yet  why  do  I  call  it  a  wonderful  exaltation  ?  If  we  look 
into  the  matter,  we  shall  be  satisfied,  I  think,  that  the 
ascension  of  our  Saviour  had  nothing  wonderful  in  it :  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  his  resurrection.  For  just  consider 
who  our  Saviour  was, — that  he  was  the  Son  of  God  most 
high, — that  he  was  Immanuel,  or  God  with  us, — that  not- 
withstanding his  merciful  humility  in  taking  our  mortal 
form,  he  was  that  eternal  Word,  of  which  St.  John  says,  that 
in  the  beginning  he  was  with  God,  and  was  God.  How 
then  can  we  wonder  that  this  Divine  Being,  though  he  did 
vouchsafe  to  die  for  our  sakes,  though  he  allowed  himself 
to  be  put  to  a  shameful  death, — can  we  wonder  that  his 
death  should  have  been  different  from  other  deaths,  and 
that  his  Father  did  not  suffer  him  to  lie  unheeded  in  the 
grave?  Hear  what  St.  Peter  says  on  this  point  in  his 
sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.     "  Him  God  raised  up, 


THE    ASCENSION.  167 


having  loosed  the  pains  of  death,  because  it  was  not  possible 
that  he  should  be  holden  of  it."  (Acts  ii.  24.)  For  God 
would  never  leave  the  human  soul  of  his  Son  in  the  region 
of  departed  spirits  ;  neither  would  he  suffer  the  flesh  of  his 
Holy  One  to  see  corruption. 

You  hear  what  this  great  apostle  says,  that  it  was  not 
possible  for  Jesus  to  be  kept  prisoner  in  the  grave.  At  first, 
when  the  apostles  were  told  of  their  Lord's  resurrection, 
they  deemed  it  an  idle  tale,  because  then  they  knew  not 
the  Scriptures.  But  when  their  understandings  had  been 
opened,  when  Jesus  had  explained  to  them  the  various 
prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  about  himself,  and  they 
had  learnt  to  know  that  he  was  indeed  the  Son  of  God, 
then  the  truth  flashed  upon  their  minds.  How  could  we  be 
so  ignorant  as  to  suppose  that  death  could  get  the  mastery 
over  the  Prince  of  life  ?  Hence  they  declare  to  the  people 
in  their  very  first  sermon,  that  it  was  impossible,  in  the 
highest  and  deepest  sense  of  the  word,  impossible  according 
to  God's  justice,  impossible  according  to  God's  love,  im- 
possible according  to  God's  truth,  impossible  according  to 
Christ's  own  divine  nature  that  he  should  not  have  risen 
from  the  dead.  And  having  thus  risen,  what  had  he  to  do 
more  on  earth  ?  The  earthly  purposes  for  which  he  came 
were  accomplished.  He  had  fulfilled  the  law  of  God  by  a 
perfect  life :  he  had  suffered  the  penalty  of  the  law  by  a 
shameful  death :  he  had  been  oflered  a  spotless  sacrifice 
and  sin-offering  for  the  sins  of  the  world  :  he  had  provided  his 
Church  with  teachers  and  with  sacraments,  to  instruct  and 
support  his  people  :  having  done  all  this,  he  had  completed 
his  work  below,  and  naturally  went  home  to  heaven.  Wonder 
not  then  either  at  the  Resurrection  or  the  Ascension.  It  is 
not  wonderful  that  the  Lord  of  life  should  have  burst  the 
bonds  of  death.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  Son  of  God, 
after  finishing  his  appointed  task,  should  have  gone  back  to 


l68  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

his  loving  Father.  The  true  wonder  is,  that  he  should  ever 
have  come  down  from  heaven,  that  he  should  ever  have 
been  made  man,  that  he  should  ever  have  died.  The  birth 
of  Christ,  and  the  death  of  Christ,  his  meekness  in  taking 
our  nature  upon  him,  his  mercy  in  submitting  to  be  crucified 
for  our  offences,  these  are  the  things  to  wonder  at,  and  not 
the  Resurrection  and  Ascension. 

I  have  said  that  Jesus,  before  his  Ascension,  had  finished 
his  appointed  work.  This  brings  me  to  the  second  head  of 
my  text,  that  he  led  captivity  captive.  For  though  Christ  is 
in  one  sense  the  Prince  of  Peace,  because  he  came  to  make  ■ 
peace  between  God  and  man,  and  to  open  a  way  for  recon- 
ciling the  truly  penitent  to  their  offended  but  still  loving 
Father,  yet  in  another  sense,  he  is  the  Captain  of  our  Sal- 
vation ;  because  in  this  world  of  sin  and  strife  the  only  road 
to  peace  is  through  war.  Hence  our  Saviour,  in  many  pro- 
phecies of  the  Old  Testament,  is  described  as  a  mighty 
warrior:  for  instance,  in  the  45th  Psalm,  where  we  read  as 
follows  :  "  Gird  thy  sword  upon  thy  thigh,  O  most  Mighty, 
with  thy  glory  and  thy  majesty.  And  in  thy  majesty  ride 
prosperously ;  and  thy  right  hand  shall  teach  thee  terrible 
things :  thy  arrows  are  sharp  in  the  heart  of  the  king's 
enemies."  Here  you  see  Christ  represented  as  a  captain 
going  forth  to  war  with  sword  and  arrows.  I  need  not 
remind  you  that,  as  the  warfare  spoken  of  was  a  spiritual 
warfare,  so  the  weapons  of  that  warfare  were  spiritual 
weapons.  But  the  struggle  was  not  the  less  real,  nor  the 
less  dangerous  on  that  account.  It  was  a  battle  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the  dark- 
ness of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness.  With  these 
had  Jesus  to  contend  from  his  birth  to  his  death.  He  had 
to  fight  in  the  shape  of  man  against  those  tyrannous  enemies 
of  man,  sin  and  death.  The  first  he  conquered  by  his  holy 
life :   the  last  he  conquered  by  his  resurrection.     This  is 


THE   ASCENSION.  169 


called  leading  captivity  captive ;  because,  before  the  time  of 
Jesus,  sin  and  death  were  holding  the  human  race  captive 
in  their  hard  bonds.  These  bonds  Jesus  brake :  he  threw 
open  the  prison  doors,  so  that  all  who  please  may  come 
forth:  and  then,  having  vanquished  those  who  had  van- 
quished all  before,  he  ascended  in  triumph  to  heaven,  lead- 
ing the  captors  captive. 

Sin  and  death,  then,  are  both  captives  to  Jesus  Christ. 
But  if  they  are  captives  to  him,  they  are  hkewise  captives  to ; 
his  servants.  Therefore  we  need  not  fear  them,  provided 
we  are  his  servants,  not  in  name  only,  but  in  deed  and  in 
truth.  How  then  is  it  that  we  so  often  hear  Christians  say- 
ing, they  cannot  help  this  or  that  sin  ?  In  a  hearhen,  or 
even  in  a  Jew  perhaps,  such  language  might  be  natural  and 
pardonable.  But  in  a  Christian,  for  whom  Jesus  has  broken 
the  strength  of  sin,  and  plucked  out  the  sting  of  death, — in 
a  Christian's  mouth  such  language  would  indeed  be  strange, 
were  it  not  so  common  that  we  forget  how  strange  we  ought 
to  deem  it.  If  you  cannot  help  your  sins,  what  are  you 
better  than  the  heathens  ?  What  has  Christ  done  for  you 
by  leading  captivity  captive,  if  you  remain  still  enslaved  to 
sin  ?  And  if  you  cannot  help  your  sins,  it  is  evident  you  j 
are  slaves  :  for  slavery  is  nothing  but  unwilling  service.  He  ' 
whom  his  master  can  compel  to  serve  him,  whether  he  will 
or  no,  is  the  slave  of  that  master ;  he  therefore,  who  is  com- 
pelled to  serve  sin,  must  needs  be  the  slave  of  sin,  and  if  so, 
of  Satan  too.  Reason  and  Scripture  agree  in  this.  Hence, 
when  the  apostles  are  recounting  the  benefits  we  have  re- 
ceived from  Christ's  coming,  they  generally  put  in  the  first 
rank,  that  his  victory  has  made  us  free  from  sin, — from  sin, 
mind,  and  not  merely  from  the  punishment  of  sin.  For  men 
are  apt  to  make  a  great  mistake  on  this  point.  The  deliver- 
ance they  wish  for  is  a  deliverance  from  punishment.  The 
deliverance  which  Christ  offers  them  is  a  deliverance  from  sin. 


« 


170  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Are  the  hearts  of  any  of  you,  my  brethren,  deaf  to  this 
oft'er  ?  Do  you  feel  that  you  do  not  care  for  it  ?  The  reason 
of  this  deafness,  this  coldness,  is  too  plain.  It  is  because 
you  love  your  sin.  If  you  love  that,  you  cannot  love  Christ. 
Do  not  mistake  my  meaning.  When  I  spoke  of  your  being 
free  from  sin,  I  did  not  mean  that  you  would  at  once  be 
made  perfect,  that  you  would  be  set  free  from  every  sin,  as 
soon  as  you  became  sincere  Christians.  Still  less  did  I  mean 
that  you  would  be  free  from  all  temptations.  You  will  still 
be  forced  to  watch :  you  will  be  liable  to  surprises.  You 
will  have  a  constant  struggle,  a  warfare  to  maintain.  A  child 
is  not  bom  with  the  strengdi  of  a  grown  man ;  but  he  goes 
on  and  grows  from  strength  to  strength.  So  is  it  with  the 
Christian :  he  too  must  go  on  from  spiritual  strength  to 
strength.  He  will  have  enough  to  exercise  him  till  the  end 
of  his  course.  But  the  difference  which  has  been  brought 
about  in  his  favour  by  Christ's  victory,  is  that  his  warfare 
will  now  be  full  of  hope.  As  in  time  of  war,  when  an  Eng- 
lish ship  met  a  French  one  of  equal  force,  the  sailors  were 
fully  aware  that  the  Frenchman  would  not  yield  without  a 
blow,  and  thus  went  into  action,  knowing  they  must  have  a 
battle  and  a  struggle  for  it,  but  never  doubting  of  the  issue ; 
so  will  it  be  in  your  warfare  against  sin.  You  will  go  to  the 
battle,  not  indeed  rashly,  nor  unnecessarily,  remembering 
that  our  Saviour  has  taught  us  to  pray  not  to  be  led  into 
temptation.  Much  less  will  you  enter  into  battle  trusting 
in  your  own  strength,  lest  God,  who  resisteth  the  proud, 
should  permit  you  to  fall  before  your  enemies.  But  when 
the  temptation  comes  upon  you,  and  you  are  called  to  with- 
stand it,  you  will  not  be  afraid  to  meet  it,  even  if  it  were  as 
big  as  a  Goliath,  but  will  face  it  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
who  enableth  us  to  overcome  our  enemies.  The  honour  of 
the  victory  will  indeed  be  due  to  Christ,  through  whose 
might  alone  you  can  be  conquerors :  but  though  the  merit 


THE    ASCENSION. 


171 


will  be  Christ's,  and  Christ's  only,  the  rewards  of  his  over- 
coming will  be  yours.  For  such  is  our  Saviour's  bountiful 
loving-kindness  toward  all  who  truly  march  under  his  banners, 
that  he  has  made  us  these  glorious  promises  by  his  servant 
in  the  Revelation :  "  He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt 
of  the  second  death :  and  I  will  make  him  a  pillar  in  the 
temple  of  God  :  and  I  will  grant  him  to  sit  with  me  on  my 
throne ;  and  he  shall  inherit  all  things." 


XV. 

CHRIST'S  DISINTERESTEDNESS   OUR  PATTERN. 

Psalm  Ixviii.  i8. 
Thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men. 

T  N  my  sermon  on  the  first  part  of  this  verse,  I  shewed  you 
■'"  that  it  contained  a  prophecy  of  our  Lord's  Ascension, 
and  of  his  victory  over  sin  and  death.  We  saw  how  our 
Lord  went  up  on  high  :  we  saw  how  he  led  captivity  captive. 
The  next  thing  declared  of  him  in  it  is,  that  he  received 
gifts  for  men :  and  this  is  the  point  on  which  I  mean  to 
speak  to  you  to-day.  It  was  the  custom  in  ancient  times, 
as  it  is  now  amongst  us,  that  a  victorious  general,  on  his 
return  from  war,  should  be  rewarded  with  great  gifts,  and 
tokens  of  favour  and  honour.  To  this  custom  we  may 
suppose  the  Psalmist  to  refer  in  the  first  words  of  the  text, 
coming  as  they  do  just  after  the  mention  of  our  Saviour's 
triumph  and  victory.  Having  told  us  that  Christ  had  gone 
up  on  high,  and  had  led  captivity  captive,  the  text  goes  on 
to  say,  that  he  has  received  gifts,  that  is  to  say,  such  gifts 
and  honours  as  are  the  rewards  of  victory. 

Now,  that  Christ  after  his  Ascension  was  indeed  rewarded 
by  God  the  Father  with  the  greatest  rewards,  and  honoured 
with  the  highest  honours,  we  know  most  certainly  from 
Scripture.  He  was  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  most 
high  :  a  name  was  given  him  above  every  name :  honour 


CHRIST'S   DISINTERESTEDNESS    OUR    PATTERN.         1 73 

and  majesty  were  laid  upon  him  :  he  was  set  over  all  blessed 
for  ever.  All  these  rewards  of  victory  our  Saviour  received. 
But  these  are  not  the  gifts  spoken  of  in  the  text.  The 
honours  and  rewards  I  have  just  mentioned,  were  bestowed 
on  our  Savio\ir  for  himself :  whereas  the  gifts  in  the  text  are 
said  to  be  given  to  him  for  others.  "  Thou  hast  received 
gifts  for  men."  So  that  a  part  of  our  Saviour's  reward,  for 
all  he  went  through  on  earth,  consisted  in  receiving  gifts  for 
men.  But  why  do  I  say,  a  part  of  his  reward,  when  this 
was  in  truth  the  whole  of  it  ?  Everything  which  he  received 
for  himself  on  his  Ascension,  was  merely  a  restoration  to 
what  was  his  own  before.  What  new  power  or  majesty  or 
honour  could  be  given  to  the  Son  after  he  took  our  flesh 
upon  him,  beyond  what  he  had  enjoyed  from  all  eternity  ? 
When  the  Word  became  incarnate,  he  descended,  he  stooped, 
he  humbled  himself,  he  came  down  from  the  highest  summit 
of  power  and  glory  for  our  sakes.  When  his  work  on  earth 
was  finished,  he  went  home  again,  and  mounted  until  he 
reached  the  same  glorious  height  from  which  he  had  come. 
But  he  could  not  go  higher.  He  was  God  before  he  came 
to  earth :  could  he  become  more  than  God,  when  he  went 
back  to  heaven?  God  is  incapable  of  increase.  If  Christ 
was  God  from  the  beginning,  then  from  the  beginning  was 
he  enjoying  the  utmost  glory  and  power  and  happiness :  and 
to  that  utmost  nothing  could  be  added.  Nothing  can  be 
higher  than  the  highest ;  nothing  can  be  greater  than  the 
greatest;  nothing  can  be  more  blessed  than  the  most 
blessed.  The  man  Jesus  indeed  was  very  highly  exalted : 
for  in  him,  as  the  Athanasian  Creed  expresses  it,  the  man- 
hood was  taken  into  God.  The  human  part  of  Christ,  the 
part  which  he  inherited  from  his  mother,  became  capable  of 
being  raised  to  glory  and  happiness  unspeakable,  and  was 
so  raised.  But  the  divine  part  of  Christ,  which  St.  John 
calls  the  Word,  and  which  had  dwelt  in  the  bosom  of  the 


174  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Father,  could  not  receive  any  increase  of  glory  or  bliss, 
which  must  have  belonged  to  him  as  God  in  their  utmost 
fullness  from  all  eternity.  Therefore  Christ,  when  he  prayed 
to  his  Father  the  night  before  his  Crucifixion  to  glorify  him, 
did  not  ask  for  any  new  glory ;  for  that  he  could  not  have  : 
he  only  asked  to  be  reunited  to  the  Father,  and  restored  to 
the  glory  which  he  had  always  had  :  "  Father,  glorify  thou 
me  with  thine  own  self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had  with 
thee  before  the  world  was." 

But  if  this  be  so,  if  God  the  Son  could  receive  no  new 
honour  and  dignity  after  the  Ascension,  greater  than  he 
enjoyed  before  the  Incarnation,  what  did  he  gain,  if  I  may 
use  such  a  word  in  speaking  of  God,  what  did  he  obtain, 
what  was  his  reward  and  recompense  for  coming  down  to 
earth,  and  suffering  so  much  during  his  stay  here  ?  My 
brethren,  he  gained  our  happiness.  This  was  the  only 
reward  he  looked  to,  and  the  only  recompense  he  could 
have.  The  only  gifts  he  did  or  could  receive  were  for  men. 
This  is  what  sets  the  goodness  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  in 
the  strongest  light.  It  shews  that  he  underwent  everything 
simply  and  purely  for  our  sakes.  We,  if  we  are  called  on 
to  give  up  anything  for  God,  are  lured  to  do  so  by  great 
and  precious  promises.  We  are  told  that  whatever  we  give 
up  for  his  sake  shall  in  the  end  be  made  up  to  us  a  hun- 
dredfold. We  are  assured  that  our  light  afflictions,  which 
last  but  for  a  moment,  shall  work  out  for  us  a  far  more 
exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Yet  all  this  will  not 
do.  Notwithstanding  all  the  rewards  set  before  us,  scarcely 
.one  in  twenty  can  be  found  to  give  up  a  single  earthly 
Ipassion,  a  single  fleshly  lust,  a  single  foolish  vanity,  a  single 
^Tigry  feeling,  a  single  ^vrongful  gain,  a  single  sin,  to  the 
pod  who  made,  and  to  the  Saviour  who  has  redeemed  us. 
But  Christ  gave  up  all  the  glories  of  heaven  for  a  season, 
without   the   possibility   of  gaining   anything   for    himself, 


Christ's  disinterestedness  our  pattern.         175 

merely  to  do  us  good.     His  coming  was  to  save  us.     His 
dying  was  to  atone  for  us.     His  very  rewards  for  all  his 
sufferings  and  humiliation,  for  his  perfect  obedience  to  his 
Father's   will,  and   his   glorious   victory  over  his   Father's 
enemies, — his  rewards  for  all  these  things  are  gifts  for  men. 
My  brethren,  there  are  some  blasphemers  of  God  and  our 
holy  faith,  who,  because  our  heavenly  Father  has  been 
pleased  to  promise  his  faithful  people  an  eternal  inheritance 
of  glory,  taunt  us  with  serving  God  from  interested  motives, 
and  charge  the  Gospel  with  teaching  men  to   be  selfish. 
This  taunt  is  not  a  new  invention.     It  is  as  old  as  the  time 
of  Job  :  of  whom  Satan,  when  he  could  find  nothing  else  to 
bring  against  him,  said,  "  Does  Job  serve  God  for  nought?"  u. 
But  is  the  charge  true?     Is  it  true  that  the  Gospel  teaches 
men  to  be  selfish?    The  Gospel  teaches   men   to  follow 
Christ.     This  is  the  sum  of  it.     Do  as  Christ  did ;  think  as 
Christ  thought;  act  as  Christ  acted.     Was  Christ  selfish? 
Was  it  selfish  in  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God  to  come 
down   from   his   throne   of  greatness   for   the   sake  of  us 
miserable  sinners?    Was  it  selfish  in  him  to  become  the 
Son  of  man,  and  die  a  shameful  death,  that  we  might  be 
made  sons  of  God,  and  raised  to  a  life  of  glory  ?     Was  he 
selfish,  when  the  very  prize  of  his  victory  is  only  gifts  for 
men  ?     Such  is  the  selfishness  which  the  Gospel  sets  before 
us, — to  do  everything,  and  to  suffer  everything,  in  obedience 
toJiod,  and  for  the  good  ofjnen.     The  Gospel Tulergiven 
us  by  Christ  himself,  is,  that  as  he  hath  loved  us,  so  should 
we  love  one  another.     As  he  hath  loved  us :  that  is  to  be 
the  measure  of  our  love  for  one  another.     Therefore  our 
love  for  each  other  should  be  without  bounds  :  it  should 
be  a  disinterested  love  :  it  should  be  a  self-denying  love  :  it 
should  be  a  love  not  easily  provoked.     If  it  fail  in  any  of 
these  respects,  it  will  be  very  unlike  the  love  which  Christ 
has  left  us  for  a  pattern. 


176  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

First,  our  love  should  be  without  bounds.  When  it  is  in 
our  power  to  do  any  real  good  for  our  neighbour,  we  must 
not  shut  our  hearts  against  him  with  such  thoughts  as  these, 
— "  I  have  done  enough  for  him  already  :  I  will  do  so  much 
for  him,  and  no  more."  If  Christ  had  set  any  bounds  to  his 
love  for  us,  where  should  we  all  be  now  ?  We  need  not  be 
afraid  that  we  shall  go  too  far  in  serving  others,  unless  we 
tie  ourselves  up  not  to  go  beyond  a  certain  point.  There 
is  no  danger  that  any  of  us  will  ever  go  too  far  in  the  walk 
of  active  love.  There  is  no  likelihood  that  any  of  us  will 
become  too  bountiful,  too  friendly,  too  kind,  too  helpful  to 
his  neighbour.  Human  nature  will  be  sure  to  stop  quite 
soon  enough.  The  real  danger  lies  the  other  way,  lest  we 
should  stop  too  soon.  For  though  we  are  none  of  us  likely 
to  do  too  much  for  our  neighbour,  we  are  all  of  us  likely  to 
do  too  litde.  Therefore  this  is  the  danger  we  are  to  guard 
against. 

,  But  you  will  ask,  perhaps,  are  there  then  no  bounds  at 
all  to  the  good  we  are  to  do  for  others  ?  I  answer,  that, 
provided  the  good  be  a  real  good,  and  the  doing  it  does  not 
cross  any  plain  duty,  or  break  any  express  command  of 
God,  I  know  of  none,  and  can  find  none  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  good  of  course  must  be  a  real  good  :  it  must 
be  such  a  good  as  true  love  would  prompt  us  to  do,  and 
true  wisdom  would  approve.  Had  we  the  riches  of  Solomon, 
we  should  not  be  called  upon  to  give  a  guinea  to  every 
beggar  or  to  clothe  the  children  of  the  poor  in  silks  and 
satins:  not  because  the  expense  would  be  too  great;  but 
because,  by  so  spending  our  money,  we  should  be  doing 
more  harm  than  good.  By  giving  a  guinea  to  every  beggar, 
we  should  be  encouraging  idleness,  which  is  a  bad  thing : 
by  dressing  up  poor  children  in  rich  clothes,  we  should  give 
them  a  fondness  for  finery,  which  is  a  bad  thing.  There- 
fore, the  money  so  spent  would  be  squandered  foolishly  and 


Christ's  disinterestedness  our  pattern.       177 

hurtfully,  in  fostering  evil  habits  :  and  this  of  course  we 
ought  never  to  do.  Nor  are  we  called  upon,  or  allowed,  to 
do  good  to  our  neighbour  to  the  neglect  of  any  plain  duty, 
or  to  the  breach  of  an  express  command  of  God's.  We 
must  not  go  abroad  to  nurse  a  sick  neighbour,  when  our 
mother  is  lying  ill  at  home :  because  our  duty  to  her  comes 
first.  We  must  not  rob,  for  the  sake  of  relieving  a  person 
in  need  :  because  God  has  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
We  must  not  tell  a  lie,  to  help  a  neighbour  out  of  a  scrape  : 
because  God  has  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness." 
So  we  must  not,  under  a  mistaken  notion  of  hospitality, 
make  the  people  that  come  to  our  house  drunk  :  because 
God  has  forbidden  drunkenness  ;  and  we  are  not  to  put 
temptations  in  the  way  of  others,  nor  to  be  partakers  in 
other  men's  sins.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  command, 
that  we  are  to  love  our  neighbour  as  ourselves.  All  that 
we  may  do  for  ourselves,  we  are  to  do  for  him,  if  need  be. 
But  a  thing  which  we  are  forbidden  to  do  for  ourselves,  we 
are  forbidden  to  do  for  him  likewise,  let  him  wish  and  ask 
for  it  ever  so  much.  We  must  not  get  drunk  ourselves; 
and  therefore  we  must  not  make  our  neighbour  drunk.  We 
must  not  lie  to  screen  ourselves ;  and  therefore  we  must  not 
lie  to  screen  him.  We  must  not  steal  for  ourselves  ;  and 
therefore  we  must  not  steal  for  him  either.  In  a  word,  we 
must  not  do  wrong  to  please  another  person,  any  more  than 
to  please  ourselves.  Mark  this,  ye  young  women,  who  are 
so  liable  to  be  led  into  wickedness,  under  the  sacred  name 
of  love  :  mark  this,  and  do  not  allow  your  best  and  kindliest 
feelings  any  more  than  your  worst,  to  be  turned  into  engines 
against  your  souls.  But  in  everything  right  and  good,  in 
everything  that  reason  approves,  in  everything  that  would 
be  of  real  service  to  our  neighbour's  soul  or  body, — in  these 
things  we  cannot  do  too  much  for  him,  if  we  would  follow 
Christ :  for  Christ's  love  to  us  was  boundless. 

N 


178  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Moreover  our  love  must  be  disinterested.  We  must  not 
do  a  service  to  our  neighbour,  from  a  hope  of  getting  back 
the  same  or  greater  in  return.  This  would  be  trading  and 
bartering,  not  loving.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  to  refuse 
to  receive  help  and  kindness  on  occasion  from  those  whom 
we  may  have  assisted.  This  would  betoken  a  proud  and 
sullen  spirit.  A  man  should  know  how  to  accept  a  favour, 
as  well  as  how  to  bestow  one.  But  in  doing  a  kindness  to 
another  we  ought  not  to  count  on  a  return.  Much  less 
ought  we  to  narrow  our  kindnesses  to  such  as  are  able  to 
return  them,  but  rather  should  rejoice  to  prove  the  dis- 
interestedness of  our  christian  love,  by  doing  good  to  the 
needy,  who  can  make  us  no  return,  and  even  to  the  thank- 
less, who  will  not.  For  so  our  Saviour  teaches  us  :  "  If  ye 
do  good  to  them  which  do  good  to  you,  what  thank  have 
ye?  for  sinners  also  do  even  the  same.  And  if  ye  lend  to 
them  of  whom  ye  hope  to  receive,  what  thank  have  ye  ?  for 
sinners  also  lend  to  sinners,  to  receive  as  much  again.  But 
love  ye  your  enemies,  and  do  good,  and  lend,  hoping  for 
nothing  again  :  and  your  reward  shall  be  great ;  and  ye 
shall  be  the  children  of  the  Highest :  for  he  is  kind  to  the 
unthankful  and  to  the  evil."  (Luke  vi.  33-35.) 
f  Again,  our  love  should  be  self-denying.  What  is  the  value 
of  services  which  cost  the  doer  nothing,  in  comparison  with 
those  which  cost  him  pains  and  trouble  ?  It  is  the  pains  a 
friend  will  take  to  serve  you,  the  sacrifices  he  will  make  for 
your  sake,  that  prove  his  love  to  be  sincere.  A  man  may 
do  many  kind  things  from  good-nature  and  easiness  of 
temper  :  but  call  on  him  to  exert  himself,  to  deny  himself, 
to  put  himself  to  trouble,  to  undergo  a  little  hardship  and 
privation  on  your  account ;  and  you  bring  his  affection  to 
the  trial.  If  it  stand  this  test,  you  may  trust  it.  What  is 
true  of  friendship  between  man  and  man,  is  equally  true  of 
christian  love.     No  deed  in  which  there  is  not  some  sort  of 


Christ's  disinterestedness  our  pattern.       179 

self-denial,  can  have  any  right  to  the  glorious  name  of  a 
deed  of  charity.  Here  let  me  point  out  to  you  an  advantage 
which  the  poor  have  in  this  respect,  although  perhaps  few 
of  them  are  aware  of  it.  It  is  an  easier  matter  for  a  poor 
man  to  be  charitable,  than  for  a  rich  man.  "  What !  (you 
exclaim)  how  can  a  poor  man  be  more  charitable  than  a  rich 
man  ?  when  the  rich  man  may  give  away  his  hundreds,  or, 
if  he  is  very  rich,  his  thousands,  and  not  miss  them  ;  while 
a  poor  man  cannot  even  give  a  penny  or  a  crust  of  bread, 
without  feeling  the  loss  :  he  cannot  even  go  to  help  or 
nurse  a  friend,  without  forfeiting  a  part  of  his  wages." 
True :  and  for  this  very  reason, — because  a  poor  man 
cannot  do  any  service  to  his  neighbour  without  some  loss, 
some  self-denial, — it  is  easier  for  him  to  shew  the  sincerity 
of  his  christian  love.  He  who  for  Christ's  sake  shares  his 
one  loaf  with  the  hungry,  casts  more  into  the  treasury,  than 
they  who  out  of  their  abundance  scatter  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands they  will  never  miss.  I  know,  when  one  hears  any- 
body called  charitable,  one  takes  it  for  granted  that  he  must 
have  plenty  of  money  :  and  it  is  a  very  rare  thing  to  hear 
poor  persons  so  called.  Yet  I  trust  it  is  not  rare  for  them 
to  be  so.  Piteous  indeed  would  be  the  condition  of  the 
poor,  if  their  poverty  shut  them  out  from  the  noblest 
privilege  which  God  has  bestowed  upon  mankind,  the 
privilege  of  helping  each  other,  the  privilege  of  shewing 
christian  charity  in  the  various  exercises  of  brotherly  love. 
But  it  does  not.  If  any  of  you  have  ever  fancied  that, 
because  you  are  poor,  you  have  nothing  to  give,  and  that 
the  duties  of  christian  charity  do  not  concern  such  as  you, 
drive  such  a  notion  out  of  your  minds.  The  poorest  of 
you  may  do  as  much, — what  in  God's  eyes  will  be  accounted 
as  much, — as  the  richest  can  do.  You  of  your  poverty  may 
give  your  all ;  and  they  at  the  utmost  can  do  no  more. 
This  however  they  may  do  too.     They  may  make  sacrifices 


l8o  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


in  various  ways,  though  not  so  easily  as  you  can.  They 
may  shew  their  love  by  giving  their  time,  by  giving  their 
labour,  by  giving  their  thoughts,  by  giving  up  their  tastes, 
by  giving  up  their  prejudices.  They  too  may  go  forth, 
like  St.  Paul :  though  the  weakness  of  men  nowadays  will 
hardly  come  noar  the  graces  of  that  holy  apostle,  they  too 
may  go  forth  in  the  service  of  Christ  to  minister  to  their 
brethren,  "  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  watchings  often, 
in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  and  cold."  That  is  to  say, 
there  is  no  outward  hindrance  to  keep  them  from  doing  so. 
If  the  love  of  Christ  burns  in  their  hearts,  as  it  did  in  his, 
they  may  do  so.  Nay,  unless  they  do  this  in  one  way  or 
other,  unless  they  deny  themselves  for  the  love  of  Christ 
and  of  their  brethren,  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  their 
brethren  has  no  place  in  their  hearts. 

One  way  in  which  this  self-denial  must  be  shewn  is  in 
overcoming  our  passions.  Our  love  must  not  be  easily  pro- 
voked. Charity,  the  apostle  tells  us,  suffereth  long,  and  is 
kind.  It  takes  its  pattern  from  the  long-suffering  of  Christ. 
Ever  since  the  fall  of  Adam  the  sins  of  mankind  had  been 
provoking  God  to  wrath  :  yet  God  would  not  be  provoked, 
save  to  a  far  more  exceeding  and  wonderful  display  of  his 
love.  Instead  of  baring  the  arm  of  his  vengeance,  and  cut- 
ting us  off  in  our  iniquity,  he  stretched  forth  the  arm  of  his 
mercy,  and  sent  his  Son  to  bring  us  back  to  the  fold.  It  is 
only  when  love  will  not  be  provoked,  except  to  fresh  deeds 
of  love,  that  it  proves  itself  to  be  pure,  and  thoroughly  dis- 
interested, and  to  spring  from  the  only  pure  source,  the  love 
of  God  and  of  Christ.  For  even  the  natural  man  desires  to 
be  loved  by  his  brethren,  and  will  love  them  for  the  sake  of 
gaining  their  love  :  but  when  the  natural  man  finds  that  his 
love  is  only  met  by  thanklessness,  it  fades  and  dies.  Chris- 
tian love  on  the  other  hand  in  its  outward  workings  is  like 
God's  love :  it  embraces  the  thankless  as  well  as  the  thank- 


CHRIST  S    DISINTERESTEDNESS    OUR    PATTERN.  l8l 


ful.  Nay,  as  God  has  done  more  for  sinners,  than  ever 
could  have  been  done  for  man,  if  he  had  continued  in 
righteousness,  so  will  christian  love  be  most  active  and 
diligent  in  trying  to  soften  and  win  the  hearts  which  need  it 
the  most. 

Such  must  be  our  love,  if  we  would  shape  it  into  any 
likeness  to  Christ's  love  for  us,  of  which  at  best  it  can  never 
be  more  than  a  very  faint  and  lame  copy.  For  his  love 
was  truly  boundless  ;  ours  will  be  cramped  and  hemmed  in 
on  every  side  by  the  weaknesses  and  wants  of  our  nature. 
His  love  was  perfectly  disinterested ;  ours  is  evermore  dis- 
turbed by  the  wish  for  some  manner  of  return.  He  gave  up 
the  glories  of  heaven ;  we  can  only  give  up  a  little  of  the 
dross  of  earth.  He  forgave  sins  without  number  and  excuse; 
we  can  only  forgive  what  we  have  no  right  to  resent.  Feeble 
however  and  unworthy  as  our  love  may  be,  it  is  the  only 
return  we  can  make  to  Christ ;  and  as  such,  Christ  vouch- 
safes to  accept  it.  The  love  which  we  shew  to  our  brethren, 
he  vouchsafes  to  accept  as  shewn  to  himself.  "  Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it,"  he  says,  "  to  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  The  one  object  for 
which  Christ  came  down  on  earth,  was  to  make  men  holy 
and  blessed.  The  one  reward  which  he  received  when  he 
went  home  to  heaven,  was  gifts  for  men,  to  make  them  holy 
and  blessed.  This  then,  my  brethren,  if  we  love  Christ,  is 
what  we  must  strive  to  do  for  Christ.  We  must  strive  to 
work  under  the  guidance  of  his  Spirit,  in  order  to  win  souls 
for  him,  in  order  to  help  our  brethren  on  along  the  road  of 
holiness  and  blessedness.  In  this  work  we  may  all  do  some- 
thing :  in  this  work  every  Christian  may  be  a  fellow-labourer 
with  Christ.  Christ's  reward  on  his  Ascension,  I  have  said, 
was  the  bestowing  gifts  on  men.  But  that  is  only  for  a 
time,  only  as  the  means  toward  the.  reward  which  he  will 
receive  on  the  last  day.    That  wi^^  his  true  reward,  the 


0X 


1 82  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

reward  for  the  sake  of  which  he  died,  the  reward  for  the 
sake  of  which  he  is  still  ever  giving  gifts  to  men.  In  the 
^ay  when  he  makes  up  his  jewels,  in  that  day  will  the  souls 
^f  all  those  whom  he  has  redeemed  be  gathered  into  a  crown 
of  glory  around  his  eternal  head.  Every  soul  that  is  saved 
will  be  a  jewel  in  Christ's  crown  :  every  soul  that  is  lost  will 
be  a  jewel  out  of  Christ's  crown.  Woe  then,  bitter  woe,  to 
those  through  whose  fault  a  jewel  is  lost  out  of  Christ's 
crown !  How  will  they  dare  make  answer,  when  he  asks 
them,  Where  are  my  jewels  ?  Blessed  on  the  other  hand, 
most  blessed  on  that  day,  will  they  be,  through  whose  patient 
endurance  in  christian  love  any  jewels  for  Christ's  crown 
have  been  gained. 


XVI. 

CHRIST'S  GIFTS. 

Psalm  Ixviii.  i8. 

Thou   hast  received   gifts  for  men,   yea,   even   for  thine 
enemies,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them. 

T  N  my  last  sermon  on  this  verse  I  set  before  you  the 
■^  wonderful  goodness  and  love  manifested  by  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  in  coming  down  from  heaven  so  entirely  for  our 
sakes,  that  his  very  rewards  were  gifts  for  men.  He  went 
through  all,  and  bore  all,  not  for  the  sake  of  receiving,  but 
of  giving,  that  he  might  as  it  were  earn  the  privilege  of 
bestowing  greater  graces  and  blessings  upon  us.  But  we 
shall  take  an  imperfect  view  of  our  debt  to  him,  unless  we 
consider  for  whom  Christ  received  these  gifts,  for  whom  he 
made  so  great  a  sacrifice, — namely,  for  his  enemies.  This 
is  the  point  which  the  apostles  urge  so  strongly,  as  the 
most  wonderful  and  convincing  proof  of  God's  boundless 
love.  Thus  St.  Paul  says  in  the  5th  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans :  "  While  we  were  yet  without  strength, 
Christ  died  for  the  ungodly.  Now  scarcely  for  a  righteous 
man  will  one  die."  Scarcely,  he  says  :  because  one  or  two 
might  perchance  be  found  with  courage  enough  to  die  for 
the  sake  of  a  good  man  and  a  good  cause.  "  But  God  com- 
mendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet 


I  $4  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

sinners,  Christ  died  for  us."     Again  a  verse  or  two  after, 
"when  we  were  enemies,"  —  the  very  word  the  Psalmist 
uses, — "  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  his 
Son."     And  again  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  "  God, 
who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved 
us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us 
together  with  Christ :  for  ye  were  strangers  from  the  cove- 
nants of  promise,  having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the 
world,  but  now  ye  are  made  nigh  to  him  by  the  blood  of 
Christ"  (ii.  4,  12).     St.  John's  words  in  the  first  Epistle  are 
to  the  same  purpose.      ''  In  this  was  manifested  the  love  of 
God  toward  us,  because  that  God  sent  his  only-begotten  Son 
into  the  world,  that  we  might  live  through  him.     Herein  is 
love;" — or  this  is  the  great,  the  astonishing  proof  of  God's 
love, — that  "  before  we  loved  God,  God  loved  us,  and  sent 
his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."     Truly,  if  we 
would  give  our  minds  to  the  matter,  we  must  needs  esteem 
it  a  very  wonderful  act  of  loving-kindness,  on  the  part  of  the 
great  Ruler  of  heaven  and  earth,  to  come  to  us  poor  worms, 
and  entreat  us  to  make  peace  with  him.     For  to  this  it 
amounts.     The  Gospel  message  is,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God. 
The  Gospel  doctrine  is,  that  Christ  came  down  from  heaven, 
and  died  on  the  cross,  in  order  that  God,  without  doing 
violence  to  his  holiness  and  justice,  might  hold  out  the 
sceptre  of  his  mercy  to  us,  and  call  us  to  him,  and  bid  us 
live, — yea,  live  for  ever, — and  might  offer  us  the  countless 
treasures  and  endless  blessings  of  his  kingdom.     This  is  the 
Gospel  doctrine,  that  "God  so  loved  the  world,"  —  that 
world  which,  we  are  told  in  another  place,  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness,—" that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
(John  iii.  16.) 

Now  does  not  this  love  far  surpass  anything  we  could 
ever  have  dared  to  hope  for,  if  God  had  not  plainly  set  it 


CHRIST  S    GIFTS. 


185 


forth  in  Scripture  ?  Put  the  case  of  yourselves  :  are  you  so 
ready,  even  when  you  are  in  the  wrong,  to  go  to  a  neigh- 
bour and  ask  him  to  make  it  up  with  you  ?  Yet  God,  who 
can  never  be  otherwise  than  right,  comes  to  us,  and  stretches 
out  his  merciful  hands  to  us,  and  begs  us  to  be  reconciled 
to  him,  and  to  accept  his  pardon,  and  to  cease  from  sinning 
against  him,  and  to  come  to  him  for  the  gifts  which  his  Son 
will  give  us  here,  and  for  the  ten  thousand  other  more 
glorious  and  precious  gifts  which  are  laid  up  for  us  above. 
The  Son  too  himself  is  always  saying  to  you, — yes,  he  says 
to  you  at  this  moment  by  me,  his  minister, — "Do  not  go 
on  sinning  in  this  headstrong  way ;  take  pity  on  yourselves ; 
do  not  force  me  to  condemn  you;  accept  the  forgiveness, 
and  the  graces  and  gifts  of  all  kinds,  which  I  have  purchased 
for  you  with  my  blood.  Do  not  stand  aloof,  because  you 
feel  yourselves  to  be  sinners,  and  because  you  know  that 
you  have  behaved  like  the  enemies  of  God.  Even  if  you 
are  enemies,  come :  yea,  come  boldly.  Even  for  my 
enemies  have  I  received  these  gifts.  Sinners,  enemies,  come 
for  them,  and  take  them." 

Can  any  message  be  fuller  of  gracious  love,  than  this 
which  I  have  just  delivered  to  you  in  the  name  of  my 
Master,  Jesus  ?  And  can  you  bring  yourselves  to  reject  it  ? 
Can  you  find  it  in  your  hearts  to  say,  "  Christ  may  hold  out 
his  hand  to  me  ;  but  I  will  not  take  it :  he  may  call  to  me  ; 
but  I  will  not  come  :  he  may  knock  at  my  door ;  but  I  will 
not  open  it :  I  will  have  none  of  his  gifts :  I  will  continue 
his  enemy:  I  will  not  be  reconciled  to  God?"  If  you 
heard  a  man  saying  such  things  with  his  mouth,  what  would 
you  think  of  him  ?  Would  not  you  be  shocked,  and  tremble 
for  him,  and  be  almost  ready  to  fall  down  on  your  knees 
and  pray  God  to  forgive  him  his  horrid  words  and  wicked 
thoughts  ?  My  brethren,  there  are  two  ways  of  saying  a 
thing.     A  man  may  say, — I  will  not  be  reconciled  to  God, 


lS6  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


—with  his  lips  ;  and  you  would  shudder  at  his  daring.  But 
he  may  also  say, — I  will  not  be  reconciled  to  God, — with 
his  life :  and  if  he  is  living  in  sin  he  does  say  so.  Every 
man  who  is  living  in  sin  says,  as  plainly  as  deeds  can  speak, 
I  will  not  be  reconciled  to  God  7iow,  He  may  not  always 
mean  to  say  so,  but  he  does  say  it  notwithstanding ;  nay, 
and  often  means  it  too.  When  a  man  says,  ''  I  will  repent 
and  become  religious  next  year,"  is  not  this  the  same  as 
saying,  "  I  will  not  become  religious  now.  I  will  not  make 
my  peace  with  God  as  yet :  I  will  go  on  in  my  rebellion 
against  him  a  while  longer  ?"  Do  not  deceive  yourselves, 
beloved  brethren  :  open  your  eyes,  and  see  the  truth.  The 
wicked  man  is  God's  enemy.  He  then  who  chooses  to  con- 
tinue in  wickedness,  chooses  to  continue  God's  enemy.  But 
why  do  I  speak  of  continuing  in  wickedness  as  if  gross 
wickedness  were  necessary  to  prove  a  man  to  be  at  enmity 
with  God  ?  The  Scripture  rule  is  clear :  he  that  is  not  with 
me,  is  against  me.  He  that  is  not  with  Christ,  he  that  has 
not  come  to  him,  and  is  not  serving  him,  that  man  is  against 
Christ ;  and  therefore  he  is  against  God.  Against  God ! 
is  any  such  here  present  ?  Alas  !  I  fear  there  must  be. 
I  cannot  flatter  myself  that  every  one  who  hears  me  is 
sincerely  striving  to  please  God ;  and  if  you  are  not,  you 
are  God's  enemy.  Young  or  old,  it  matters  not, — richer  or 
poorer,  it  matters  not, — man  or  woman,  it  is  the  same 
thing,  if  you  are  not  striving  to  serve  God,  you  are  God's 
enemy,  in  a  christian  church, — God's  enemy,  with  the  cross 
on  your  forehead, — God's  enemy,  with  the  grave,  and  the 
pit  below  the  grave,  ready  to  catch  you,  and  opening  their 
jaws  wide  for  you,  like  wild  beasts  gaping  for  their  prey. 
Shall  we  not  shudder  for  you  then,  seeing  you  hanging  by 
one  single  little  thread  of  life,  which  an  accident  any  hour 
may  snap  asunder?  Yet  by  that  one  thread,  if  you  are 
God's  enemy,  you  are  hanging  over  the  pit  of  hell.    Tremble, 


Christ's  gifts.  187 


tremble  for  yourselves  :  hasten  to  lay  hold  on  the  pardon 
and  grace  which  Christ  offers  you :  pray  to  him  for  those 
gifts,  which  the  text  tells  us  he  has  received  for  his  enemies. 
But  pray  to  him  in  good  earnest,  like  a  person  who  feels  he 
is  praying  for  his  life, — as  the  disciples  prayed  when  the 
storm  overtook  them,  and  they  cried,  "  Lord,  save  us !  we 
perish;" — as  Peter  prayed,  when  he  was  beginning  to  sink, 
and  cried,  "Lord,  save  me!" — as  the  Canaan itish  woman 
prayed,  who  would  take  no  denial :  so  pray  thou.  I  say 
unto  thee,  whoever  thou  art,  whose  conscience  tells  thee 
that  thou  art  God's  enemy,  pray  thou  with  the  same  fervour 
as  these  did :  and  the  same  Jesus  who  stilled  the  raging 
storm,  and  upheld  the  sinking  Peter,  and  cast  out  the 
unclean  spirit  from  the  Canaanitish  woman's  daughter, — 
will  hear  thee,  and  will  help  thee,  as  he  helped  them,  and 
will  pluck  thee  out  of  the  mire  of  wickedness,  and  will  deliver 
thee  from  the  evil  one,  and  will  still  the  raging  passions 
in  thy  breast,  and  will  reconcile  thee  to  thy  offended 
Maker,  and  turn  thee  from  an  enemy  into  a  penitent  and 
obedient  son. 

Christ's  reward,  we  have  seen,  consisted  in  receiving  gifts 
for  men ;  and  that  too  at  a  time  when  the  whole  world 
were  strangers  and  aliens  from  God ;  nay,  when  by  following 
their  lusts  and  the  evil  devices  of  their  hearts,  all  mankind 
were  at  enmity  with  God  ;  when  they  had  set  up  other  gods 
in  the  place  of  him  who  is  the  only  God,  and  paid  these  all 
the  worship  and  service  which  are  rightfully  due  to  him. 
Such  was  the  state  of  the  whole  earth  at  Christ's  coming : 
and  even  now  such  is  the  state  of  all  those  parts  of  it,  where 
the  religion  of  Christ  has  not  yet  taken  root.  It  is  of  great 
importance  to  bear  this  in  mind  :  because  it  proves  that  the 
whole  of  our  salvation  from  first  to  last  is  the  work  of  Christ's 
free  and  gracious  love.  Man  neither  did,  nor  can  do,  any 
thing  to  deserve  it,  or  to  give  him  any  sort  of  claim  upon 


1 88  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

God  for  it.     Mankind  were  not  walking  toward  God,  when 
Jesus  came  to  seek  them ;  they  had  turned  their  backs  on 
God,  and  were  walking  away  from  him.     It  is  true  they  had 
not  the  same  advantages  as  we  have  now :  they  did  not 
know  their  duty  so  clearly  as  we  do  now.     They  were  living 
under  a  kind  of  twilight ;  for  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  was 
not  yet  risen.     But  they  had  not  made  the  most,  or  near  the 
most  of  that  twilight.     The  heathens  had  not  profited  as 
they  ought  to  have  done,  or  anything  like  it,  by  the  light  of 
nature.     Full  of  holes  and  flaws  as  their  philosophy  was,  it 
was  ample  enough  to  condemn  them.     Nor  had  the  Jews 
profited  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  or  anything  like  it,  by 
that  treasure  of  theirs,  the  Old  Testament.     As  the  light  of 
nature   condemned   the   heathens,  so   the  Old  Testament 
condemned  the  Jews.     Both  had  neglected  and  abused  the 
means  which  God  had  afforded  them  for  becoming  wise  and 
good.     But,  blessed  be  God  !  he  did  not  forsake  or  cast  off 
his  sinful  creatures,  nor  leave  them  to  walk  in  their  own 
darkness.     Although   they  ran   away   from   him,  he   only 
followed  them  the  more :  or  rather  he  fetched  a  compass 
about,  and  came  and  met  them  in  their  wanderings.     You 
remember  the  parable  of  the  wicked  husbandmen  in  the 
2 1  St  chapter  of  St.  Matthew.     They  paid  their  lord  no  rent 
for  the  vineyard  he  had  lent  to  them ;  and  when  he  sent 
his  servants  for  his  share  of  the  fruits,  they  beat  the  servants, 
and  stoned  them,  and  killed  them.     Now  call  to  mind  how 
their  lord  treated  them  after  all  these  wicked  outrages.     He 
did  not  turn  them  out  of  their  farm,  and  punish  them  as 
they  deserved:    but  he  determined  to  give  them  another 
chance,  and  that  a  better  than  ever.     He  sent  his  son  to 
them,  saying,  "  They  will  reverence  him."     This  parable  is 
an  exact  setting  forth  of  God's  dealings  with  mankind,  in 
calling  them,  when  they  were  enemies,  to  a  knowledge  of 
his  merciful  Gospel.      We  had   been  unfaithful  in  a  few 


Christ's  gifts.  189 


things ;  yet  God  entrusted  us  with  many  things.  We  had 
misused  our  means  and  opportunities  :  yet  God  said,  "Your 
opportunities  and  means  shall  be  increased  tenfold."  We 
had  shut  our  ears  against  all  the  teachers  sent  into  the 
world  in  former  ages ;  nay,  the  Jews  had  been  deaf  to  the 
voice  of  God  himself,  speaking  to  them  from  the  top  of 
Sinai :  and  God  said,  "  What  shall  we  do  with  man  ?  I 
have  sent  him  teachers  of  his  own  flesh  and  blood,  and  have 
enlightened  them  with  my  Spirit,  and  have  given  them  the 
word  of  power ;  yet  man  will  not  repent  and  come  to  me. 
I  have  spoken  to  him  myself  out  of  a  cloud  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  have  set  my  law  plainly  before  him  :  and  yet  he 
cleaves  to  his  iniquity.  Still  I  will  not  utterly  forsake  him  : 
one  more  trial  is  left  for  him  in  the  counsels  of  my  mercy. 
I  will  go  to  him  myself :  yea,  the  only-begotten  of  my  love 
shall  go  and  dwell  with  him  in  his  own  form ;  yea,  in  the 
form  of  a  man  shall  he  dwell  with  him.  It  may  be  he  will 
hearken  to  him.     Surely  he  will  reverence  my  Son." 

But  they,  who  had  always  been  enemies  and  rebels 
against  the  Father,  now  became  the  enemies  of  the  Son. 
His  meekness,  his  gentleness,  his  purity,  his  loving-kindness, 
his  whole  life  spent  in  doing  good  to  them,  could  not  soften 
the  hardness  of  their  hearts.  They  laid  hands  upon  him 
and  slew  him.  They  persecuted  him  during  his  life ;  and 
at  length  they  nailed  him  as  a  criminal  to  the  cross.  Still 
even  this  did  not  move  him  to  cast  away  his  merciful  pur- 
pose. While  he  was  hanging  on  the  cross,  he  conquered 
sin  :  and  that  victory  he  gained  for  his  enemies.  When  he 
was  laid  in  the  grave,  he  conquered  death  :  and  this  victory 
again  was  for  his  enemies.  When  he  went  up  on  high,  he 
received  gifts  from  the  Father  :  and  these  gifts  too  were  all 
for  his  enemies,  for  those  very  enemies  whose  sins  had  nailed 
him  to  the  cross. 

What  however  are  those  gifts,  which  Christ  has  received 


igo 


THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


for  his  enemies?  This  is  the  last  question  which  remains 
for  us,  in  order  to  fill  up  our  view  of  this  great  and  blessed 
subject.  These  gifts,  so  far  as  the  Bible  enables  us  to 
understand  their  nature,  may  be  divided  into  two  classes : 
the  first  consists  of  such  gifts  as  Christ  offers  to  men,  while  | 
they  are  still  his  enemies ;  the  second,  of  such  as  he  bestows  f 
on  those  whom  he  has  reconciled  to  God. 

The  gifts  in  the  former  class,  which  Christ  offers  to  men 
while  they  are  still  his  enemies,  are  two.  But  those  two 
gifts  are  so  excellent,  that  the  happy  man  on  whom  they  are 
bestowed  has  all  that  can  be  necessary  for  turning  him  from 
God's  enemy  into  God's  friend.  He  that  has  indeed  re- 
ceived these  two  gifts  into  his  heart,  has  ceased  to  be  God's 
enemy  :  and  so  he  comes  within  the  circle  of  those  further 
gifts,  which  are  designed  for  such  as  are  reconciled  to  God. 
Now  what  are  these  two  excellent  and  wonder-working  gifts, 
which  have  power  to  turn  all  such  as  receive  them  in  a 
right  spirit  from  God's  enemies  into  God's  friends  ?  St.  Peter 
tells  us  in  the  5th  chapter  of  the  Acts,  where,  speaking  to  the 
Jewish  council,  he  says  of  Jesus,  "  Him  hath  God  exalted 
to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance  to  Israel, 
and  forgiveness  of  sins."  Repentance  and  forgiveness  of 
sins,  then ;  forgiveness  as  soon  as  we  repent,  and  the  power 
to  repent  in  order  to  our  forgiveness,  are  the  two  gifts  which 
Christ  offers  to  men,  while  they  are  still  enemies  to  God. 

In  the  first  place,  he  offers  them  forgiveness  as  soon  as 
they  have  repented.  So  long  as  sinners  continue  in  their 
sins  wilfully,  obstinately,  and  against  their  better  knowledge, 
so  long  there  can  be  no  forgiveness  for  them.  Christ  has 
not  procured  our  pardon,  to  the  end  that  we  may  keep  on 
sinning :  but  he  has  obtained  the  assurance  of  our  pardon 
the  moment  we  forsake  our  sins.  He  offers  the  fullest  for- 
giveness to  all  his  enemies,  as  soon  as  they  repent  and  turn 
to  Gud. 


Christ's  gifts.  191 


"And  what  boots,  what  avails  such  an  offer  to  me?" 
many  a  sinner's  heart  will  murmur :  "  What  am  I  the  better 
for  being  promised  forgiveness  after  I  have  repented,  when 
I  feel  too  deeply  I  cannot  repent  ? "  To  tear  up  all  pre- 
tence for  such  a  murmur  by  the  roots,  and  to  leave  the 
sinner  wholly  without  excuse,  if  he  continues  at  enmity  with 
God,  Christ  to  his  first  gift  of  forgiveness  adds  a  second  gift 
of  repentance.  Not  only  will  he  forgive  the  sinner  who 
repents  :  he  will  also  enable  him  to  repent,  in  order  that  he 
may  be  forgiven.  Suppose  one  of  you  owed  a  rich  man  a 
hundred  pounds :  and  that,  instead  of  seUing  your  goods, 
and  throwing  you  into  prison,  he  were  to  offer  to  forgive  you 
the  whole  sum,  on  condition  that  you  would  thank  him  in 
writing,  and  give  him  a  promise  under  your  hand  never  to 
run  in  debt  again.  In  such  a  case  some  of  you  would  say, 
"  Sir,  your  offer  is  very  kind  :  but  it  will  do  me  no  good  : 
for  I  cannot  write."  Now  suppose  the  rich  man  were  to 
answer :  "  Well  then,  I  will  teach  you  to  write ;  and  when 
you  have  learnt,  you  may  give  me  the  written  promise  which 
I  ask."  This  twofold  kindness  on  the  part  of  the  rich  man, 
— in  offering  to  forgive  you  your  debt,  if  you  would  but 
thank  him  in  writing,  and  in  teaching  you  to  write,  that  you 
might  be  able  so  to  thank  him, — is  a  sort  of  picture  of  our 
Saviour's  goodness  to  his  enemies,  in  not  only  promising 
them  full  pardon  on  their  repentance,  but  enabling  them 
likewise  to  repent  that  they  may  obtain  the  pardon. 

Repentance  and  forgiveness  then  are  the  first  two  gifts 
which  Christ  offers  to  every  sinner.  If  he  accepts  them,  if 
he  does  indeed  repent,  if  he  seeks  the  forgiveness  which  is  ^ 
granted  to  all  such  as  seek  for  it  earnestly,  his  offences  are  V 
blotted  out,  his  debt  is  cancelled  :  he  is  changed  from  an 
enemy  into  a  child  of  God :  and  is  let  in  and  becomes 
entitled  to  a  share  in  the  privileges  which  Christ  bestows  on 
his  people.    But  if  the  sinner  does  not  accept  these  gifts,  if 


192  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

he  slights  God's  proffer  of  forgiveness,  if  he  scorns  the  help 
which  would  enable  him  to  repent,  then  does  he  continue 
an  enemy  to  Christ,  and  a  rebel  against  God  :  and  as  such, 
when  the  day  of  judgment  comes,  he  will  be  delivered  to 
the  executioner.  Therefore  once  more  I  call  upon  you,  and 
say  to  you,  Sinners,  enemies  of  God, — if  there  be  any  such 
amongst  us, — hasten  to  accept  the  repentance  and  forgive- 
ness which  Christ  so  mercifully  sets  before  you.  The 
repentance  and  forgiveness,  I  say :  for  you  must  take  both, 
or  neither.  Christ  will  not  part  his  two  gifts.  You  must 
take  them  both  ;  or  you  must  leave  them  both  :  you  cannot 
have  one  without  the  other.  Unless  you  repent  and  turn 
to  God,  you  will  not,  you  cannot  be  forgiven. 

Suppose  however  that  we  have  profited  by  these  first  gifts, 
and  through  them  been  reconciled  to  our  heavenly  Father, 
then  has  Christ  a  second  and  larger  class  of  gifts,  to  forward 
us  in  the  way  of  holiness,  and  to  bring  us  into  the  presence 
of  God.  For  such  is  our  Saviour's  bounty,  that  nothing  can 
set  limits  to  his  gifts,  except  our  unfitness  to  receive  them. 
If  your  heart  be  large,  your  thirst  great,  if  your  prayer  to 
him  for  grace  be  fervent,  you  will  receive  more  :  if  your 
heart  be  small,  your  thirst  little,  your  prayer  faint,  you  will 
receive  less.  Therefore  St.  Paul  exhorts  to  covet  the  best 
gifts  ;  because,  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  our  desires, 
will  be  the  gifts  bestowed  on  us. 

Of  these  spiritual  gifts,  which  you  ought  to  covet,  the 
chief  is  the  new  heart  and  the  new  spirit,  which  are  thcj- 
mark  of  God's  true  children.  None  can  be  truly  a  child  of 
God,  unless  he  has  been  born  of  God.  Now  he  that  is 
regenerate,  or  born  again  of  God,  receives  what  the  Bible 
calls  a  new  heart.  Thus  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Ezekiel : 
"  A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I 
put  within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes ;  and 
ye  shall  keep  my  judgments  and  do  them."    The  meaning  of 


Christ's  gifts.  193 


this  promise  is  clear  :  and  the  gift  is  one  of  the  most  precious 
that  can  be  bestowed  on  man.  A  new  heart !  Much  need 
in  truth  have  we  of  a  new  heart :  for  the  old  one  is  bad 
enough.  "  Out  of  the  heart  (says  our  Saviour)  proceed 
evil  thoughts,  adulteries,  fornications,  murders,  thefts,  covet- 
ousness,  wickedness,  deceit,  an  evil  eye,  blasphemies,  pride, 
foolishness."  (Mark  vii.  21,  22.)  Ought  we  not  to  long  to 
get  rid  of  such  a  heart,  and  to  receive  a  different  heart  in  its 
stead  ?  a  heart  pure  and  loving,  kind  and  gentle,  true  and 
humble,  holy  and  pious, — a  heart  that  covets  heavenly 
treasures,  and  does  not  vex  itself  about  the  pelf,  the  amuse- 
ments, or  the  honours,  which  the  old-hearted  world  are 
grasping  after. 

The  new  heart  and  new  spirit,  which  Christ  gives  to  his 
people,  must  surely  be  very  precious.  Nor  can  you  be 
ignorant  what  is  meant  by  it.  Nicodemus,  indeed,  when 
our  Lord  told  him  that  man  must  be  born  again,  was  simple 
enough  to  ask,  "  How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ? 
Can  he  enter  the  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb,  and 
be  born  ?  "  But  none  can  be  so  simple  nowadays.  Were 
such  a  question  to  be  asked  by  any  one  now  in  a  christian 
land,  it  could  only  be  out  of  mockery  and  profaneness. 
When  the  Bible  or  the  preacher  speaks  to  you  of  this  new 
heart  and  new  spirit,  none  of  you  can  be  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand, that  by  the  new  heart  is  meant  a  new  feeling,  leading 
to  such  a  change  in  our  affections, — and  by  the  new  spirit  a 
new  principle  leading  to  such  a  change  in  our  conduct, — 
that  the  alteration  could  scarcely  be  greater  if  we  were  made 
altogether  anew.  What  then  is  this  new  feeling  ?  what  is 
this  new  principle  ?  which  Christ  is  ready  to  bestow  on 
every  one,  when  he  has  accepted  his  offer  of  pardon,  and 
has  forsaken  his  sinful  courses,  and  is  trying  to  Hve  as  the 
Gospel  commands,  and  has  begun  to  pray  regularly,  and  to 
read  his  Bible,  and  to  listen  to  sermons, — when,  in  short,  he 

o 


194  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

has  taken  all  those  first  steps  which  betoken  a  man's  repent- 
ance, and  shew  that  he  is  anxious  about  his  soul.  A  man 
in  this  state  will  soon  find  how  incapable  he  is  of  attaining 
to  that  inward  purity  and  truth,  which  the  law  of  God 
requires.  Outward  acts  of  sin  he  may  get  to  abstain  from  : 
though  even  that,  if  he  has  been  accustomed  to  any  sinful 
practice,  will  cost  him  many  a  hard  struggle.  But  purity  of 
heart,  meekness,  patience,  lowliness, — these,  his  Bible  tells 
him,  are  the  things  which  God  looks  for :  and  will  he  attain 
to  these  by  his  own  efforts  ?  Alas  !  he  will  soon  find  that, 
while  the  law  is  spiritual,  he  himself  is  carnal.  He  will  find 
that,  much  as  his  reason  and  conscience  may  approve 
God's  law,  his  fallen  and  corrupt  nature  is  too  strong  for 
him.  He  will  feel  it  hanging  like  a  clog  about  his  soul,  and 
keeping  it  from  rising  up  to  heaven.  If  any  of  you,  my 
brethren,  are  in  this  state,  a  state  which  St.  Paul  describes  so 
touchingly  in  the  7th  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans, — 
if  any  of  you  are  ready  to  cry  out  in  the  bitterness  of  your 
heart,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deHver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  " — remember  St.  Paul's  answer  : 
"  I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  God  is 
ready  to  deliver  you  from  your  thraldom  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  He  is  waiting  to  be  gracious,  if  you  will 
only  ask  him.  Therefore,  instead  of  despairing,  and  giving 
yourselves  up  for  lost,  and  slackening  your  prayers  as  of  no 
avail,  redouble  them.  Pray  to  Christ  your  King ;  tell  him 
that  you  need  his  gifts,  that  you  need  a  new  heart,  that  you 
need  a  new  spirit ;  beseech  him  for  his  mercy's  sake  to  send 
them  to  you,  that  you  may  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of 
your  evil  nature.  Pray  thus  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour ;  and 
be  assured  he  will  hear  you,  and  ere  long  will  send  you  the 
new  feeling  and  the  new  principle  which  are  to  change  and 
better  your  nature. 

This  brings  me  back  to  the  question  which  I  asked   a 


CHRIST  S   GIFTS.  195 


while  ago :  what  is  this  new  feeling  and  this  new  principle, 
which  are  powerful  enough  to  work  such  wonders,  as  to 
change  the  very  wishes  of  our  hearts,  and  to  make  our 
thoughts  and  lives  savour  of  heaven?  The  principle  is 
faith,  that  faith  in  praise  of  which  St.  Paul  is  so  full  and 
frequent.  A  degree  of  faith,  which  we  will  call  belief,  the 
Christian  must  of  course  have  from  the  outset.  He  would 
never  have  left  the  service  of  sin,  unless  he  had  believed 
that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death.  The  threats  which  God 
denounces  against  the  wicked,  must  have  made  an  impres- 
sion on  his  mind  :  else  he  would  never  have  taken  the  pains 
of  breaking  off  his  evil  habits.  So  must  he  have  believed 
that  God  hears  prayer  :  else  he  would  not  have  prayed.  He 
must  have  believed  the  Bible  to  be  the  word  of  truth,  and 
must  have  been  led  by  what  is  called  the  preventing  or 
guiding  grace  of  God, — that  grace  which  comes  and  knocks 
at  the  sinner's  heart,  to  rouse  him  from  his  deadly  slumber, — 
he  must  have  been  led  by  that  grace  to  apply  the  threaten- 
ings  of  the  Bible  to  himself,  and  thus  to  feel  his  danger. 
This  degree  of  belief  every  sinner  must  have,  before  he 
will  begin  to  shake  off  his  sins.  But  this  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  that  mixture  of  belief  and  trust,  which  makes  up 
a  saving  faith.  Of  this  more  perfect  faith  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say,  that  it  is  strong  enough  to  carry  a  man  through  all 
dangers,  through  all  hardships,  through  all  temptations, 
through  all  distresses,  for  the  sake  of  him  in  whom  we 
believe.  In  the  words  of  St.  John,  "  This  is  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  (i  John  v.  4.) 

But  if  this  principle  be  not  sufficient  for  us,  Christ  has 
another  equally  powerful  gift  in  store,  in  the  shape  of  a  new 
feeling  to  purify  and  strengthen  our  hearts,  just  as  faith 
enlivens  and  strengthens  our  souls.  This  new  feeling  is 
love,  the  love  of  God,  which  marks  the  new-hearted  or 
christian  man,  just  as  the  love  of  self  marks  the  old-hearted 


196  THE   ALTON   SERMONS. 

or  worldly  man.  Now  this  love  and  this  faith  may  exist  in 
Christians  in  almost  every  degree.  There  are  babes  in 
Christ,  as  well  as  grown  men.  But  even  babes  live,  and 
have  a  spirit  and  principle  of  life  in  them,  and  learn  to  love 
their  father  and  mother,  long  before  they  have  learnt  to  say 
so.  Thus  must  it  be  with  babes  in  Christ.  Even  they  must 
have  a  principle  of  faith  and  a  feeling  of  love  toward  God. 
If  they  have  not,  if  they  have  not  this  new  spirit,  and  this 
new  heart,  which  always  goes  along  with  it,  the  christian 
life  has  not  even  begun  in  them.  Judge  therefore  your- 
selves, brethren,  and  examine  yourselves,  whether  you  really 
love  Christ,  whether  you  have  a  hearty  trust  in  God.  Unless 
you  have  these  only  certain  signs  of  a  christian  life  in  you, 
your  Christianity  is  a  dead  letter  and  an  empty  show. 

I  feel  sure  however  that  some  at  least  among  you  have 
these  signs  of  a  true  christian  life.  Let  us  go  on  therefore  a 
step  further,  and  see  what  other  gifts  you  are  to  look  for. 
The  Scriptures  speak  of  many  such,  the  gift  of  Christ's  flesh, 
which  is  the  Christian's  food, — the  gift  of  Christ's  peace, 
which  is  the  Christian's  balm,  —  the  gift  of  Christ's  joy, 
which  is  the  Christian's  sunshine, — and  finally  the  gift  of 
an  eternal  inheritance,  which  is  the  Christian's  reward  and 
haven.  But  the  largest  gift  of  all,  the  gift  in  which  all  the 
others  are  embraced,  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "  It  is 
expedient  for  you,"  said  our  Saviour,  "  that  I  go  away  :  for, 
if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  to  you ;  but 
if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  to  you."  (John  xvi.  7.)  To  him 
is  committed  the  whole  work  of  our  sanctification.  It  is  he, 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  makes  us  holy.  He  gi^-es  us  that 
holiness,  without  which  no  man  can  ever  seL^  God.  This 
indeed  is  the  gift  which  the  Psalmist  seems  to  have  had 
chiefly  in  view:  for  to  this  end,  he  tells  us,  did  Christ 
receive  gifts  for  men,  "that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell 
amongst  them."      Yes,  my  brethren,  so  wonderful  is  the 


Christ's  gifts. 


197 


loving-kindness  of  our  Almighty  Father,  so  precious  the  gift 
which  Christ  has  obtained  for  us,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  has  vouchsafed  ever  since  to  come  down  and  dwell 
amongst  us ;  and  not  only  amongst  us,  but  i7i  us,  in  all  such 
as  come  to  Christ  with  a  simple  and  faithful  heart.  For  this 
is  what  St.  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians  (i.  iii.  16) :  "  Know 
ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  dwelleth  in  you  ?  "  This  question,  which  St.  Paul  put 
to  the  Church  of  Corinth,  I  put  to  you  :  know  ye  not  that  ye 
are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth 
in  you?  Beware  therefore,  dear  brethren,  lest  ye  defile  the 
temple  of  God,  by  anything  impure  or  sinful,  whether  in 
thought  or  word  or  deed ;  "for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy, 
which  temple  ye  are." 


XVII. 
HOLY  BRANCHES; 

OR, 

WHY  WAS   THE   TRINITY  REVEALED? 

Romans  xi.  i6. 
If  the  root  be  holy,  so  are  the  branches. 

'T^HE  purpose  of  our  Saviour's  coming  was  to  redeem  and 
-■-  deliver  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  to  purify  us  as  a 
peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works.  This  is  the  great 
end  of  his  teaching ;  and  this  end  all  the  doctrines  of  his 
religion  further.  For  instance,  the  doctrine  of  the  everlast- 
ing pains  of  hell, — why  has  that  been  made  known  to  us, 
except  to  frighten  us  from  sin  ?  Why  again  has  the  doc- 
trine of  the  unspeakable  joys  of  heaven  been  made  known 
to  us,  except  to  comfort  and  encourage  us  in  well-doing  ? 
In  like  manner  all  the  other  doctrines  of  our  faith  are 
designed  either  to  warn  us  against  going  astray,  or  to 
quicken  our  steps  along  the  right  path,  or  at  least  in  some 
way  or  other  to  keep  us  firm  and  steadfast  in  our  duty.  So 
that  our  religion  may  not  unfitly  be  compared  to  a  great 
tree  ;  of  which  the  doctrines  are  the  roots,  and  uprightness 
is  the  trunk,  and  godly  deeds  and  all  the  ministries  of  love 
are  the  outspreading  branches,  and  piety  is  the  heavenward 
pointing  head.     As  a  tree  grows  up  from  its  roots,  and  they 


HOLY    BRANCHES. 


99 


nourish  and  support  it ;  so  do  the  duties  of  religion  grow  out 
of  its  doctrines,  and  rest  on  its  doctrines,  and  draw  their  life 
from  them.  If  the  trunk  of  a  tree  be  separated  from  the  roots, 
it  falls :  nor  will  a  man's  morality  be  able  to  stand,  unless  it 
be  rooted  and  anchored  deep  in  the  great  truths  of  religion. 
Any  hour  of  trial,  a  gust  of  passion,  a  sharp  blast  of  tempta- 
tion from  an  exposed  quarter,  would  lay  such  unsupported 
virtue  low.  It  would  fall,  like  the  house  built  on  the  sand ; 
and  great  and  sad  would  its  fall  be.  But  as  a  tree  is 
nothing  without  its  roots,  so  the  roots  on  the  other  hand 
are  nothing  without  the  tree.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  support- 
ing the  branching,  wide-spreading  tree,  that  there  are  any 
roots  at  all.  No  one  ever  saw  a  root  growing  by  itself  and 
for  itself.  A  root  without  a  tree  would  be  the  same  sort  of 
thing  among  God's  works,  as  a  foundation  without  a  house 
among  man's  works.  Nor  is  this  less  true  of  the  spiritual 
roots  of  faith.  God,  who  does  nothing  in  vain,  has  not 
revealed  any  doctrine  to  us  for  the  mere  sake  of  feeding 
our  curiosity,  or  of  making  us  stare  and  wonder.  Doctrines 
from  which  nothing  springs  would  be  as  much  out  of  place 
in  the  book  of  God's  word,  as  roots  from  which  nothing 
grows  would  be  in  the  book  of  nature.  Such  roots  are  not 
living,  but  dead.  Whenever  therefore  you  come  to  any 
doctrine  in  the  Bible,  bear  in  mind  that  the  Scriptures  were 
not  written  to  make  us  wise  merely,  in  that  which  the  world 
deems  wisdom, — but  wise  unto  salvation.  Instead  of 
stumbling  over  the  doctrine,  as  a  bHnd  or  heedless  man 
might  stumble  over  a  root  that  lay  in  his  path,  and  stood  a 
little  way  out  of  the  ground, — instead,  I  say,  of  stumbling 
over  it,  and  being  offended  at  it,  say  to  yourselves,  ''  Here 
is  another  root  of  godly  living,  a  root  which,  if  I  can  only 
plant  it  in  my  heart,  is  sure  to  bring  forth  a  goodly  tree  of 
some  christian  grace  or  other." 

Thus  it  is  with  all  the  great  truths,  with  all  the  great 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


doctrines  of  our  faith :  nor  is  it  otherwise  with  the 
greatest  and  most  mysterious  of  all  its  doctrines,  with  the 
doctrine  which  embraces  all  the  others,  the  doctrine  of 
the  ever-blessed  Trinity.  But  what  is  the  doctrine  of 
the  ever-blessed  Trinity?  Some  of  you  may  perhaps  be 
glad  to  hear  a  short  and  simple  explanation  of  it.  And 
much  does  it  behove  you  to  understand  what  the  Scrip- 
tures have  revealed  to  us  on  this  matter:  seeing  that  it 
is  the  very  doctrine  into  which  you  were  all  baptized, 
when  you  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  On  this  great  and 
wonderful  mystery  it  becomes  the  ministers  of  Christ  to 
speak,  humbly  indeed,  but  plainly  and  boldly,  so  far  as 
Scripture  bears  them  out, — no  further.  Where  the  Bible 
stops,  we  must  stop  too.  Were  you  walking  over  a  moun- 
tainous country,  beset  with  steep  and  dangerous  precipices, 
so  long  as  the  sun  lit  up  your  path,  and  shewed  you  a  safe 
footing,  you  would  go  on  cheerfully  and  fearlessly.  Still 
safer  and  more  confident  would  you  feel,  if  an  angel  were 
leading  you  by  the  hand.  But  if  the  sun  went  down,  if  a 
thick  mist  arose,  if  the  angel  let  go  your  hand,  if  you  found 
yourself  in  this  dangerous  country  without  light  and  without 
a  guide,  would  you  go  on  then  ?  Surely  the  true  wisdom 
would  be  to  stop  the  moment  the  light  faded  away,  lest,  by 
walking  rashly  on,  you  might  stumble  or  slip  into  the  jaws 
of  death.  Thus,  when  we  are  talking  of  the  Trinity,  so 
long  as  we  keep  within  the  bounds  of  Scripture,  we  may 
walk  safely :  for  the  light  of  God  is  upon  us,  and  his  angel 
is  leading  us  by  the  hand.  But  when  the  Bible  stops,  we 
'nust  stop  also.  Every  step  beyond  the  written  word  is 
dangerous,  and  rash  and  foolish. 

Still,  though  it  would  be  most  unwise  to  follow  the  danc- 
ing lights  of  our  own  fancies,  where  the  risk  of  a  false  step 
is  so  great,  yet,  as  long  as  the  light  of  the  Bible  is  on  our 


HOLY    BRANCHES.  20I 


path,  we  may,  we  ought,  to  go  on,  under  the  assurance  that 
God  has  revealed  nothing  in  his  word,  except  what  it 
behoves  us  to  know.  We  may  not  be  able  to  reach  the 
very  top :  but  let  us  mount  as  high  as  we  can,  keeping  in 
mind  that  we  are  not  walking  by  our  own  light,  but  by  God's 
light,  and  therefore  walking  humbly,  as  befits  those  who  can 
do  nothing  of  themselves.  For  as  'an  excellent  writer  has 
said,  "  What  would  it  profit  us  to  speak  never  so  wisely  of 
the  Trinity,  if  by  speaking  proudly  we  offended  the  Trinity  ?" 
In  this  humble  spirit  would  I  speak,  in  this  spirit  would  I 
have  you  listen  to  what  I  shall  say,  concerning  the  Holy 
Trinity. 

"The  Catholic  faith  (as  you  have  just  heard  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed)  is  this :  that  we  worship  one  God  in 
Trinity,  and  Trinity  in  Unity."  This  is  the  Catholic  faith  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  universal  faith,  the  faith  held  by  every 
faithful  part  and  member  of  Christ's  Church.  By  whatever 
name  the  various  branches  of  that  Church  may  be  called, — 
Roman  Catholics,  Greeks,  Lutherans,  we  of  the  Church  of 
England,  our  brethren  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, — however 
they  may  disagree  and  differ  on  other  points, — and  alas! 
these  differences  are  so  many  and  so  violent,  that  Christ's 
coat,  which  was  woven  without  seam  from  top  to  bottom, 
setting  forth  the  perfect  union  which  ought  to  subsist  among 
true  believers,  has  been  shamefully  rent  and  almost  torn  to 
tatters  amongst  them, — still,  these  many  violent  differences 
notwithstanding,  the  several  churches  of  Christendom  all 
agree  in  this,  that  they  worship  one  God  in  Trinity,  and 
Trinity  in  Unity.  Therefore  this  faith  is  called  catholic,  or 
universal ;  because  it  is  held  by  all  the  churches.  For  this 
is  the  meaning  of  the  word  catholic :  the  Catholic  faith  is 
that  which  is  held  by  all  true  believers  :  the  Catholic  Church 
is  that  which  embraces  and  is  made  up  of  all  true  believers ; 
and  everybody  is  a  member  of  that  Church,  who  holds  all 


202  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

the  great  doctrines  of  the  christian  faith.  This  is  the  Holy 
CathoUc  Church  which  we  profess  in  the  Creed  to  beUeve 
in.  This  is  the  CathoHc  Church  for  which  we  pray  in  the 
prayer  for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  in  the 
Litany,  where  we  call  it  the  holy  Church  universal. 

Now,  the  great  doctrine  of  that  Church,  the  doctrine 
which  is  held  by  every  branch  of  that  Church, — the  doctrine 
by  which  whoever  holds  it  becomes  a  member  of  that 
Church,  while  whoever  rejects  it  ceases  to  belong  to  that 
Church,  and  becomes  a  heretic, — is  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity :  that  is  to  say,  the  doctrine  that  in  the  Godhead 
there  are  three  Persons,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  that  the  Father  is  God,  the  Son  is  God,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  God  :  and  that  yet  there  are  not  three  Gods, 
but  one  God.  To  the  carnal  understanding  this  doctrine 
sounds  strange  and  hard  to  believe :  it  is  strange  and  hard 
to  believe,  that  three  should  be  one,  and  that  one  should  be 
three.  Why  then  does  the  whole  body  of  the  Cathohc 
Church  hold  this  doctrine?  Because  it  is  plainly  set  down 
in  Scripture.  Because  the  Scripture  tells  us  on  the  one 
hand  that  God  is  one,  and  on  the  other  hand  that  the 
Father  is  God,  that  our  blessed  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Word  that  was  with  God  from  the  beginning,  is  God,  and 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  God.  Because  moreover  we  are 
convinced  that  it  is  not  in  man,  by  seeking,  to  find  out 
God,  and  that  we  cannot  know  anything  of  God,  except 
what  God  himself  is  graciously  pleased  to  make  known 
to  us. 

This  then  is  the  Catholic  faith,  that  we  acknowledge  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  be  each  of  them 
God,  and  yet  that  they  are  not  three  Gods,  but  one  God. 
How  these  three  Persons  are  so  united  as  to  make  up  only 
one  God,  we  are  nowhere  told  in  Scripture  :  therefore  on 
this,  as  with  regard  to  so  many  lesser  matters,  we  must  be 


HOLY    BRANCHES.  203 


content  to  remain  ignorant.  Does  this  seem  a  great  hard- 
ship to  the  pride  of  the  would-be  wise  ?  Let  them  come 
forward  then,  and  prove  their  right  to  be  admitted  into  the 
innermost  mysteries  of  heaven,  by  shewing  that  they  have 
fully  mastered  all  the  lesser  mysteries  of  earth.  Let  them  tell 
me  why  the  needle  of  the  compass  always  turns  toward  the 
north.  Perhaps  they  will  say,  because  it  is  its  nature  to  do 
so.  But  that  is  no  answer.  My  question  is,  why  does  the 
needle  so  turn?  What  secret  and  invisible  hand  twists  it 
round,  and  teaches  it  to  point  always  the  same  way  ?  Or, 
if  this  be  too  puzzling  a  question,  perhaps  these  wise  men, 
who  think  it  so  great  a  hardship  that  they  are  not  permitted 
to  understand  God,  may  tell  us  a  little  about  themselves. 
They  can  perhaps  teach  us  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  the 
blood  keeps  on  flowing  unceasingly  through  our  veins 
without  our  being  aware  of  it,  except  when  we  are  in  a  high 
fever.  We  grow  tired  with  labour,  or  with  exercise ;  we  tire 
even  with  doing  nothing ;  we  need  sleep  at  certain  seasons 
to  refresh  us  for  the  taskwork  of  the  morrow  :  but  the  blood 
never  wearies.  On  it  flows,  from  the  hour  of  our  birth,  day 
and  night,  summer  and  winter ;  year  after  year  it  keeps  on 
its  silent  round,  never  felt  when  we  are  in  health,  yet  never 
stopping,  and  never  sleeping,  until  it  stops  once  for  all,  and 
sleeps  the  sleep  of  death.  How,  I  ask,  can  these  things 
be  ?  What,  again  no  answer  !  Tell  me  then  at  least,  how 
it  is  that  I  dream ;  or  if  you  cannot, — and  no  one  can, — 
let  those  who  know  nothing  about  the  how  and  the  why  in 
so  many  of  the  commonest  earthly  matters,  not  be  so  very 
much  surprised  that  they  cannot  understand  the  essence  of 
that  invisible,  that  eternal,  that  infinite  Spirit,  whom  we  call 
God. 

But  though  the  Scripture  has  only  told  us  that  these 
things  are,  without  teaching  us  how  they  are,  yet  for  the 
sake  of  shewing  that  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is  not  so 


204  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

Utterly  at  variance  with  what  we  find  in  earthly  things,  as 
unbelievers  would  fain  persuade  us, — for  the  sake  of  proving 
how  possible  it  is,  even  according  to  our  limited  notions, 
for  that  which  is  three  in  one  sense,  to  be  one  in  another 
sense, — learned  and  pious  men  have  busied  themselves  in 
seeking  out  likenesses  for  the  Trinity  among  the  things  of 
this  world.  It  is  most  true  indeed,  and  should  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  these  likenesses  must  be  very  imperfect,  and  that 
they  cannot  give  us  anything  approaching  to  a  full  and  just 
idea  of  the  glorious  Trinity.  For  so  the  prophet  teaches  us 
when  he  exclaims,  "  To  whom  will  ye  liken  God  ?  or  what 
likeness  will  ye  compare  to  him  ?  Have  ye  not  known  ? 
have  ye  not  heard  ?  It  is  he  that  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of 
the  earth,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers : 
that  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain,  and  spreadeth 
them  out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in."  (Isaiah  xl.  i8,  22.)  To 
whom  then,  or  to  what  created  thing  can  we  liken  God,  and 
not  fall  immeasurably  below  the  glory  of  his  infinite  perfec- 
tions ?  Still,  although  no  likeness  to  which  we  can  liken 
God,  can  be  of  any  avail  toward  shewing  him  to  us  as  he 
is,  yet  since  so  many  find  a  stumbling-block  in  the  mystery 
of  the  Trinity,  and  so  many  cast  it  as  a  stumbling-block  in 
their  brother's  path,  there  can  be  no  harm,  and  there  may 
be  some  good,  in  comparisons,  which  shew  that  it  is  not 
altogether  unlike  what  we  find  in  the  natural  world.  More- 
over such  comparisons  may  help  you  in  attaching  some  sort 
of  notion,  though  a  very  dim  and  imperfect  one,  to  the 
words  of  your  Creed,  which  declare  that  God  is  one,  and 
yet  that  there  are  three  Persons  in  the  Godhead.  They 
may  keep  these  words  from  lying  dead  in  your  minds,  or 
rather  on  your  tongues. 

One  of  the  comparisons  or  likenesses  I  am  speaking  of  is 
taken  from  the  most  glorious  object  which  our  eyes  see,  the 
sun.     That  ball  of  light  and  heat,  which  we  call  most  pro- 


HOLY   BRANCHES.  205 


perly  the  Sun,  may  be  compared  to  the  Father,  from  whom 
both  the  Word  and  the  Spirit  come.  From  this  sun  the 
light  issues,  and  is  as  it  were  a  part  of  it,  and  yet  comes 
down  to  our  earth  and  gives  light  to  us.  This  we  may 
compare  to  the  Word,  who  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and 
came  down  on  earth,  and  was  made  man,  and  who,  as  St. 
John  tells  us,  is  "  the  true  light,  which  lighteth  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world."  But  beside  this  there  is  the 
heat,  which  is  a  different  thing  from  the  light :  for  we  all 
know,  there  may  be  heat  without  light :  and  so  may  there 
be  light, — moonlight  for  example,  and  starlight, — without 
any  perceivable  heat.  Yet  the  two  are  blended  and  united 
in  the  sun ;  so  that  the  same  rays,  which  bring  us  light  to 
enlighten  us,  bring  us  heat  also  to  warm  us,  and  to  ripen 
the  fruits  and  herbs  of  all  kinds  which  the  earth  bears.  This 
heat  of  the  sun  may  not  unfitly  be  compared  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  that  Lord  and  Giver  of  life,  as  the  Creed  calls  him, 
for  heat  is  the  great  fosterer  of  life :  as  we  see  for  example 
in  an  egg.  As  that  is  hatched  by  the  warmth  of  the  parent 
bird,  sitting  on  it  lovingly,  and  brooding  over  it,  until  it  is 
quickened  into  life;  just  so  does  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
brood  with  more  than  dove-like  patience  over  the  heart  of 
the  believer,  giving  it  life  and  warmth ;  and  though  he  be 
driven  away  again  and  again  by  our  backslidings,  he  still 
hovers  round  our  hearts,  desiring  to  return  to  them,  and  to 
dwell  in  them,  and  cherish  them  for  ever.  Moreover,  if 
any  seed  of  the  Word  has  begun  to  spring  up  in  any  heart, 
the  Spirit  descends  like  a  sunbeam  upon  it,  and  ripens  the 
ear,  and  brings  the  fruit  to  perfection.  Thus  have  we  first 
the  sun  in  the  sky,  secondly,  the  light,  which  issues  from 
the  sun,  and  thirdly,  the  heat,  which  accompanies  the  light, 
— three  separate  and  distinguishable  things  :  yet  distinct  as 
they  are,  what  can  be  more  united  than  the  sun  and  its 
rays,  or  than  the  light  and  heat  which  those  rays  shed  abroad? 


206  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

The  comparison  which  I  have  just  set  before  you,  is 
taken  from  the  most  glorious  of  the  heavenly  bodies  known 
to  us,  the  sun.  Another  is  sometimes  taken  from  the 
purest  of  earthly  bodies,  water.  Here  too  we  have  first  the 
fountain,  high  up  among  the  rocks,  far  out  of  man's  reach, 
answering  to  the  Father ;  secondly,  the  stream,  which  issues 
from  the  fountain,  and  flows  down  into  the  valley  for  the 
use  of  man,  and  which  may  be  likened  to  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son ;  thirdly,  the  mist,  which  rises  from  the  water,  and  falls 
in  rain  or  dew  upon  the  thirsty  ground  :  this,  I  need  hardly 
say,  answers  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles  came  down  visibly,  like  the  rain,  with  a  sound  as 
of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  but  who  now  descends  gently  and 
silently,  like  the  dew  in  the  silence  of  night,  on  the  heart 
of  the  humble  believer,  to  refresh  it,  to  soften  it,  and  to 
make  it  fruitful. 

Do  not  mistake  me,  my  brethren.  I  do  not  mean  that 
these  comparisons  will  enable  us  to  understand  the  mystery 
of  the  Trinity ;  any  more  than  a  farthing  rushlight  will  enable 
us  to  understand  the  sun.  But  supposing  a  man,  who  had 
never  seen  the  sun,  were  to  say,  "  it  is  impossible  for  the  light 
to  abide  in  the  sun,  and  yet  to  be  shed  abroad  over  the 
earth,"  a  farthing  rushlight  would  suffice  to  shew  him  that 
the  light,  though  it  fills  the  room,  may  yet  abide  with  the 
candle.  In  like  manner  the  comparison  I  have  been  setting 
before  you  may  suffice  to  convince  you  that  the  difficulty, 
by  which  so  many  have  been  offended,  in  the  mystery  of  the 
Trinity,  is  not  so  irreconcilable  with  what  we  find  in  God's 
created  works,  as  we  are  apt  to  fancy  it.  And  this  is  all 
that  we  need.  What  God  is  in  himself,— how  the  eternal 
Word  is  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,— how  the  Holy 
Ghost  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,— how  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  abide  for  ever  in  indissoluble 
union  and  unity, — these  are  questions  of  no  importance  to 


HOLY   BRANCHES  207 


the  practical  government  of  our  lives.  Therefore  God  has 
not  thought  fit  to  reveal  them  to  us  more  clearly.  That 
which  it  concerns  us  to  know,  that  which  is  to  act  upon  our 
hearts  and  souls,  and  through  them  on  our  conduct,  has 
been  declared  to  us.  The  holy  root  lies  hid  underground  : 
the  holy  branches  spread  abroad  before  our  sight,  and  offer 
us  a  safe  shelter  from  all  the  evils  of  this  world.  Know- 
ledge, a  wise  man  has  said,  is  power ;  but  it  is  power  only 
when  we  use  it.  Knowledge  not  applied,  or  misapplied, 
profits  nothing.  What  good  would  knowing  all  the  herbs 
and  simples  in  the  world  do  a  sick  man,  if  he  did  not  use 
them  to  cure  his  sickness  ?  Neither  would  it  profit  us  to 
know  the  most  secret  mysteries  of  the  divine  nature,  unless 
that  knowledge  helped  us  on  in  the  paths  of  holiness  and 
godliness. 

But  what,  you  may  ask,  are  the  practical  uses  and  pur- 
poses, for  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  revealed  to 
us  ?  What  good  can  it  do  us  to  know  that  the  Son  is  God, 
and  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  God,  as  well  as  the  Father,  and 
yet  that  there  are  not  three  Gods,  but  one  God  ?  What  are 
the  holy  branches  which  spring  from  this  most  holy  root  ? 

Now,  if  the  purpose  and  end  of  Christianity  be,  as  it 
doubtless  is,  to  bring  us  near  to  God  in  heart  and  life,  it  is 
easy  to  see,  how  much  the  revealing  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  to  us  is  fitted  to  further  that  end.  I  say  the  reveal- 
ing it  to  us  :  because  there  might  have  been  a  Trinity ;  the 
Son  of  God  might  have  died  to  save  us ;  the  Holy  Ghost 
might  come  and  sanctify  us ;  and  yet  we  might  know 
nothing  of  the  matter.  Even  this  would  doubtless  have 
been  a  great  mercy,  and  a  great  blessing.  But  the  having 
that  mercy  revealed  to  us  so  plainly,— the  knowledge  that 
these  things  are  so, — the  being  made  acquainted  with  the 
great  works  which  have  been  done,  and  are  doing  by  the 
Son  of  God  and   the  Spirit  of  God  for  our  sakes, — this 


2o8  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

multiplies  our  debt,  and  makes  the  blessing  and  the  mercy 
much  greater. 

For  consider  what  would  be  the  state  of  a  sinner,  on 
waking  from  his  sin,  if  he  did  not  know  himself  to  be  par- 
doned. What  dread  !  ^vhat  horror !  what  despair  !  what 
distracting  thoughts  of  God's  righteous  indignation  !  What 
an  ever-present  vision  of  hell  yawning  to  devour  him  ! 
What  a  doleful  voice  ever  ringing  in  his  ears,  Judgment ! 
Judgment !  Who  could  remain  long  in  such  a  state  ? 
What  mind  could  go  on  dwelling  on  such  terrible  and 
dismal  thoughts,  and  not  be  driven  mad  ?  Yet  this  would 
be  the  state,  the  natural  and  reasonable  state,  of  a  sinner 
awaking  from  the  sleep  of  sin,  if  he  did  not  know  of  the 
propitiatory  sacrifice  which  Christ  has  offered  up  for  sin. 
But  now  that  the  good  news  of  pardon  and  acceptance  with 
God  through  the  blood  of  Christ  has  been  proclaimed 
to  all  who  repent,  the  light  of  hope  is  let  into  the  prison- 
house  of  sin :  so  that  they  who  sat  in  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  fast  bound  in  misery  and  iron, — they  who 
naturally  could  have  nothing  to  look  for  but  judgment  and 
fiery  indignation,  for  the  misdeeds  they  have  been  wilfully 
guilty  of, — for  their  drunkenness,  for  their  lust,  for  their  foul 
and  evil-speaking,  for  the  pains  they  have  taken  to  learn 
mischief,  for  the  opportunities  of  instruction  and  improve- 
ment which  they  have  thrown  away,  —  even  these,  on 
awaking  from  their  slumber,  and  coming  to  a  right  mind, 
have  only  to  lift  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  to  see  the  beams 
of  mercy  and  forgiveness  shining  and  ready  to  descend. 
They  have  only  to  take  up  their  Bibles ;  and  they  will  read 
there— what?  That  sin  is  a  light  matter?  Far  from  it. 
That  it  does  not  signify  whether  a  man  goes  on  sinning  or 
not  ?  By  no  means.  That  God  is  easy,  and  will  let  sinners 
go  unpunished  ?  Quite  the  contrary.  They  will  find  that 
sin  is  hateful  to  God,  that  punishment  must  follow  it,  that 


HOLY   BRANCHES.  209 


God  "  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty,"  but,  according  to 
their  deeds,  will  repay  "  tribulation  and  anguish  upon 
every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil."  (Rom.  ii.  9.)  Yet  in  the 
midst  of  all  these  terrible  passages,  which  so  awfully  repre- 
sent God's  justice,  they  will  find  the  freest  and  fullest  and 
most  merciful  promises  of  pardon  for  Christ's  sake,  to  every 
one  without  exception  who  repents  and  truly  turns  to  God 
in  time.  They  will  read  that  "the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth 
us  from  all  sin "  (i  John  i.  7) ;  that  God  gave  his  only- 
begotten  Son  in  order  that  all  true  believers  in  him  should 
have  everlasting  life  (John  iii.  16);  and  many  other  pas- 
sages to  the  same  effect.  These  will  be  sufficient,  not  to 
banish  the  sinner's  shame  and  sorrow  for  his  past  life, — 
God  forbid  that  they  should  ! — but  they  will  make  that 
shame  and  sorrow  bearable.  They  will  prevent  his  soul 
from  sinking  to  the  earth  under  an  insupportable  fear  of 
God's  wrath.  They  will  save  him  from  that  recklessness 
and  despair,  which  harden  the  heart  and  make  it  devilish. 
Instead  of  looking  on  himself  as  an  outcast  doomed  to 
eternal  torment,  he  will  get  to  feel  that  he  is  pardonable, 
yea,  and  already  pardoned,  if  he  will  only  return  home  to 
God.  He  will  learn  that,  during  all  his  wanderings,  he  has 
been  followed  with  a  watchful  eye  by  his  merciful  and 
heavenly  Father :  and  then  the  thought  of  having  wilfully 
offended  such  a  father,  of  having  run  away  from  him  to  go 
and  eat  the  husks  of  sin, — that  thought,  coming  with  a 
prospect  of  forgiveness,  will  soften  his  stubborn  heart,  and 
will  make  him  sorrow  with  the  godly  sorrow  which  worketh 
repentance  not  to  be  repented  of.  Such  are  some  of  the 
blessed  effects  likely  to  be  produced  in  the  sinner's  mind, 
by  knowing  that  Christ  came  down  from  heaven  to  suffer 
death  for  sinners.  Here  then  you  see  the  benefit  of  know- 
ing at  least  so  much  about  the  Trinity,  as  to  be  aware  of  all 
that  the  second  Person  of  it,  the  eternal  and  only-begotten 

p 


2IO  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


Son  of  God,  has  been  pleased  to   do  and  suffer  for  our 
redemption. 

The  good  of  knowing  what  is  done  for  us  by  the  third 
Person  of  the  Trinity  is  also  very  great  and  plain.  It  is  a 
great  benefit  for  us  to  have  been  taught  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  ever  ready  to  help  us  in  our  endeavours  after  holiness. 
I  have  set  before  you  the  case  of  a  sinner,  whose  eyes  have 
been  opened  to  see  the  danger  and  the  wickedness  of  offend- 
ing God,  and  who  is  anxious  to  lead  a  better  life.  Let  us 
follow  this  penitent  a  few  steps  on  his  road,  and  see  what 
he  will  do  next.  Doubtless  he  will  begin  his  reformation 
by  studying  the  law  of  God  ;  for  to  keep  it,  he  must  know 
it.  The  first  steps  will  perhaps  be  easy  enough.  Not  to 
murder,  not  to  commit  adultery,  not  to  steal,  not  to  bear 
false  witness,  crimes  like  these  he  may  never  have  had  any 
mind  to  :  at  any  rate  now  he  would  rather  die  than  be 
guilty  of  anything  so  wicked.  But  on  reading  a  little  fur- 
ther, he  meets  with  other  commandments  as  difficult  as  the 
first  were  easy;  commandments  far  surpassing  the  utmost 
reach  of  human  virtue,  such  as  "be  ye  holy  as  God  is  holy," 
and  "perfect  as  God  is  perfect;"  commandments  the  most 
contradictory  to  flesh  and  blood,  such  as,  that  we  must  love 
them  that  hate  us,  that  we  must  deny  ourselves,  that  we 
must  take  up  our  cross  and  follow  Jesus ;  commandments 
reaching  to  the  very  smallest  actions,  and  even  thoughts, 
such  as,  that  we  must  cleanse  and  purify  our  hearts,  that  we 
muot  bridle  our  very  tongues.  Now  who  is  sufticient  for 
such  things  ?  Who  can  hope,  try  he  never  so  much,  to 
become  perfect  like  God  ?  The  more  a  man  thinks  what 
God  is,  and  what  great  goodness  he  requires  from  us,  the 
more  he  learns  of  the  divine  law,  how  exceeding  broad  and 
high  and  deep  it  is,  the  further  he  sees  into  the  spiritual 
nature  of  the  service  which  we  owe  him, — the  more  he  must 
needs  feci  his  utter  inability  to  serve  and  obey  God  as  he 


HOLY    BRANCHES.  21 1 


ought  to  do.  Here  then  a  new  despair  threatens  to  over- 
whelm the  penitent,  a  despair  of  being  able  to  pay  God  a 
sufficient  and  acceptable  service.  He  sees,  and  is  forced  to 
confess,  to  use  St.  Paul's  words,  "  that  the  law  is  holy,  and 
the  commandment  holy  and  just  and  good."  But  what 
does  this  profit  him  when  the  holiness  of  the  command- 
ment only  shews  him  his  own  crookedness,  but  gives  him 
no  means  of  becoming  upright  ?  What  does  it  avail  him 
that  he  delights  in  the  law  of  God  and  feels  its  excellence 
and  purity  so  long  as  he  sees  another  law  in  his  members 
bringing  him  into  captivity  to  sin,  or  at  least  crippling  him 
from  attaining  to  the  purity  he  admires  and  longs  for? 
Truly  it  avails  and  profits  him  just  as  much,  and  no  more, 
than  it  profited  the  impotent  man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda 
to  be  desirous  of  being  made  whole,  and  to  lie  on  the  edge 
of  the  healing  waters,  which  he  had  not  strength  to  step 
into.  But  thanks  be  to  God !  a  remedy  has  been  pro- 
vided for  this  our  natural  weakness  by  the  gracious  kindness 
of  the  Holy  Ghost;  just  as  a  remedy  has  been  provided  for 
our  natural  sinfulness  by  the  blood-shedding  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Spirit  of  God  takes  the  sinner  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
blessed  Jesus :  he  nurses  him ;  he  cherishes  him ;  he  feeds 
him  ;  he  supports  and  strengthens  him ;  and  finally  he  takes 
up  his  abode  within  him  and  purifies  him,  and  gradually 
changes  his  whole  nature,  filling  him  with  love,  joy,  peace, 
long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  and 
temperance.  Surely  the  knowledge  that  the  Spirit  does  all 
this  is  an  inestimable  benefit  to  the  young  Christian.  It  gives 
him  courage  :  it  excites  him  to  persevere  and  struggle  on  : 
it  sets  before  him  the  certainty  of  conquering,  if  he  be  not 
wanting  to  him,self.  Instead  of  crying  out,  as  otherwise  he 
might  have  done,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  !"  he  now  exclaims, 
with  humble   confidence,  "  I  can  do  all   things,  through 


212  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Christ  that  strengtheneth  me  :  in  spite  of  tribulation  and 
temptation,  through  Christ  I  shall  be  more  than  con- 
queror." 

Nor  is  it  merely  to  the  sinner,  or  to  the  penitent,  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  a  root 
yielding  blessed  fruit.  To  the  true  followers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  those  who  have  already  made  advances  in  holiness,  to 
those  who  have  tasted  and  learnt  how  gracious  the  Lord  is, 
— to  such  persons  the  knowledge  of  these  great  truths  is 
still  more  precious  than  to  any  others.  Think  of  knowing 
that  you  have  a  Friend,  a  Saviour,  a  prevailing  Advocate  in 
heaven.  Think  of  knowing  that  you  have  the  Spirit  of  all 
peace  and  joy  and  purity  dwelling  in  you.  Think  of 
knowing  that,  come  what  will,  you  have  an  almighty  Shep- 
herd, who  once  died  to  save  you,  and  who  now  ever  liveth 
to  protect  you.  "  Who  will  harm  you,"  says  St.  Peter,  "  if 
ye  be  followers  of  that  which  is  good?"  Let  me  wax 
bolder,  and  ask,  what  can  harm  you  ?  What  can  harm  you, 
if  ye  be  followers  of  Christ?  Can  Satan,  whom  he  has 
trampled  on?  can  the  world,  which  he  made,  and  will 
destroy  ?  can  sin,  which  he  expiated  on  the  cross  ?  can 
death,  whose  chains  he  burst  at  his  resurrection?  Fears 
then  there  can  be  none,  except  from  human  weakness,  to 
the  faithful  followers  of  Jesus.  Nor  can  there  be  doubts  or 
lasting  sorrow.  What  doubts  can  there  be  to  that  man, 
who  hath  God's  word  pledged  for  his  salvation,  and  who 
has  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  teach  him  every 
necessary  truth  ?  As  to  sorrow,  are  we  not  expressly  told 
that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God  ?  What  room  then  to  such  blessed  persons  can  there 
be  for  any  lasting  sorrow?  Even  that  most  incurable  of 
earthly  griefs,  the  grief  for  the  loss  of  those  who  are  gone 
before  us, — even  of  that  St.  Paul  speaks  in  these  words  :  "  I 
would  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  concerning 


HOLY    BRANCHES. 


them  which  are  asleep,  that  ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others 
which  have  no  hope ;  for  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and 
rose  again,  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God 
bring  with  him.  Wherefore  comfort  one  another  with  these 
words."  (i  Thess.  iv.  13-18.) 

The  sum  of  the  whole  is  this  :  though  the  nature  of  God 
must  needs  be  mysterious  to  our  understandings,  there  is  no 
mystery  in  the  benefits  we  receive  from  him  nor  any  dark- 
ness in  the  duty  we  owe  him.  Without  comprehending  how 
the  three  Persons  of  the  Godhead  are  united  in  one  eternal 
God,  we  may  glorify  each  for  his  excellent  greatness  and 
goodness  to  man.  We  may  glorify  the  Father,  the  original 
fountain  of  all  things,  who  sent  his  only  Son  to  work  out 
our  salvation.  We  may  glorify  the  Son,  who  undertook 
and  has  accomplished  that  salvation.  We  may  glorify  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  is  graciously  present  with  the  faithful  in 
Christ  to  write  his  words  in  their  hearts,  to  comfort  and 
succour  them,  and  to  lead  them  in  the  steps  of  their 
Redeemer  to  the  gates  of  heaven  which  he  has  opened. 
The  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  not  revealed 
to  us  that  we  might  be  more  knowing,  than  the  heathens. 
We  were  told  of  the  Father,  that  we  might  obey  the  Father  : 
we  were  told  of  the  Son,  that  we  might  be  delivered  from 
our  sins  by  the  Son  :  we  were  told  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that 
we  might  welcome  him  into  our  hearts,  and  throw  them 
open  to  receive  him.  What  will  it  avail  us  to  have  heard  of 
the  Father,  if  we  choose  to  be  cast  out  for  ever  from  his 
presence  ?  what,  to  have  heard  of  the  Son,  if  we  reject  the 
atonement  of  his  blood  ?  what,  to  have  been  brought  up  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if  we  despise  his  warnings, 
drive  him  from  our  hearts  by  our  impurities,  and  remain, 
like  Gideon's  fleece,  dry  in  the  midst  of  so  much  moisture, 
unregenerate  and  unsanctified  amid  the  largest  offers  of  the 
freest  and  most  overflowing  sanctification  ?     Do  not  deceive 


214  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

yourselves  so  fatally,  my  brethren  :  do  not  repeat  the  error 
of  the  Jews.  Do  not  fancy  that  knowing  is  doing,  that  right 
notions  make  a  saving  faith.  True  faith  and  true  love,  the 
trust  in  God  and  the  love  of  God, — a  trust  shown  by  resig- 
nation to  his  will,  a  love  proved  by  keeping  his  command- 
ments,— these  are  the  only  things  to  rely  on.  Cling  to 
them,  and  they  will  bear  you  through  the  world  to  heaven, 
where  all  mysteries  will  be  cleared  up,  and  all  difficulties 
will  be  done  away  :  for  we  shall  be  let  into  the  presence  of 
God,  and  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  And  what  is  better,  if 
possible,  even  than  seeing  and  knowing  God,  wq  shall  be 
ever  growing  more  and  more  like  him. 


XVIII. 

THE  FOOLISH  MOCKERS. 

Proverbs  xiv.  9, 
Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin. 

"  "OLESSED  is  the  man,  (says  David  at  the  beginning  of 
■"-^  the  Psahiis,)  who  hath  not  walked  in  the  counsel  of 
the  ungodly,  nor  stood  in  the  way  of  sinners,  and  hath  not 
sat  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful."  These  words,  it  is  plain, 
are  meant  to  describe  the  course  and  progress  of  a  wicked 
life,  going  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until  it  arrives  in  the  end 
at  the  most  hardened  and  reckless  impiety.  Therefore  to 
sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful  must  be  a  very  dreadful  state  : 
inasmuch  as  it  amounts,  in  the  language  of  the  Psalmist,  to 
fixing  oneself  resolutely  and  boastfully  in  evil.  In  like 
manner  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  when  speaking  of  certain 
persons  from  whose  company  and  conversation  he  kept 
aloof,  makes  use  of  nearly  the  same  expression  :  "/  sat  ?iot 
in  the  assembly  of  the  mockers  "  (xv.  17).  Now  who  are  these 
scornful  persons,  these  mockers,  whom  holy  men  of  old 
were  so  careful  to  shun  ?  They  are  the  very  persons  of  whom 
Solomon  is  speaking  in  the  text,  the  fools,  as  he  calls  them, 
who  make  a  mock  at  sin.  If  you  bear  in  mind  what  sin  is, 
— that  it  is  an  open  rebellion  against  the  God  of  heaven, 
that  it  is  a  deiiance  of  him  who  is  Almighty, — you  may 


2l6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

know  what  you  ought  to  think  of  persons  who  are  daring 
enough  to  make  a  mock  at  it.  To  make  a  mock  is  to  speak 
hghtly  and  slightingly  of  a  thing,  or,  as  we  should  say  in 
common  English,  to  make  a  jest  of  it.  But  what  must  be 
the  state  of  a  man's  mind,  when  he  can  make  a  jest  of 
offending  God  ?  Can  he  be  in  his  senses  ?  He  has  lost  the 
most  precious  of  all  senses,  the  sense  of  right  and  wroog. 
Therefore  the  Bible,  which  takes  no  account  of  any  wisdom, 
except  that  which  goes  along  with  righteousness  in  this 
world,  and  leads  to  blessedness  in  the  next,  calls  all  such 
persons  fools  :  "  Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin."  Angels,  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  mourn  for  sin,  and  weep,  if  they  can 
weep,  over  the  state  of  sinners.  How  foolish  then  must 
that  man  be,  who  can  laugh  at  what  angels  weep  at !  A 
laugher  at  a  funeral  would  be  a  wise  man  to  such  a  person. 
This  is  so  plain  a  truth,  that  none  of  you,  I  should  think, 
can  doubt  it.  No  man,  at  least  no  man  who  ever  set  foot 
in  a  church,  can  doubt  the  foolishness  and  madness  of 
opposing  and  contradicting  God,  by  either  calHng  or  think- 
ing a  thing  light  and  harmless  and  laughable,  which  he  has 
declared  to  be  a  sin,  and  therefore  hateful  in  his  holy  all- 
seeing  eyes.  But  perhaps  you  may  be  disposed  to  ask, 
"  What  is  the  use  then  of  preaching  on  such  a  subject  ?  why 
take  the  pains  of  proving  what  nobody  doubts  ?  why  warn 
people  against  the  folly  of  a  sin  that  nobody  is  ever  guilty 
of?"  My  brethren,  did  I  really  believe  that  nobody,  or 
that  very  few  persons  were  ever  guilty  of  making  a  mock  at 
sin,  assuredly  I  should  not  preach  against  it.  But  is  this 
quite  certain  ?  Is  it  quite  certain  that  nobody  here  present 
has  ever  made  a  mock  at  sin  ?  Alas,  if  we  consider  the 
various  ways  in  which  this  may  be  done,  I  am  afraid  that, 
arrant  as  this  folly  is,  it  will  turn  out  to  be  much  commoner 
than  we  fancy.  I  am  afraid  that,  if  we  were  to  question  our 
consciences  strictly,  few  of  us  would  have  the  satisfaction  of 


THE    FOOLISH    MOCKERS.  21 7 

finding  that  they  have  always  been  firmly  bent,  like  the  pro- 
phet, not  to  sit  in  the  assembly  of  the  mockers. 

The  various  ways  in  which  men  make  a  mock  at  sin,  may 
be  summed  up  under  two  heads :  by  their  words,  and  by 
their  actions.  We  shew  our  scorn  and  contempt  of  a  thing 
in  our  words,  when  we  speak  carelessly  of  it,  or  laugh  at  it, 
or  turn  it  into  ridicule.  We  shew  it  in  our  actions,  when  we 
live  in  such  a  manner  as  proves  that  we  have  no  value  or 
regard  for  it.  Words  may  be  uttered  thoughtlessly  and 
hastily :  but  let  a  person  manifest  his  feelings  and  sentiments 
in  action,  above  all  in  a  continued  and  persevering  line  of 
action  ;  let  him  express  his  opinions  and  declare  his  thoughts 
by  his  deeds ;  and  he  must  indeed  be  speaking  from  the 
abundance  of  the  heart.  If  a  servant,  a  tenant,  a  subject 
were  to  persist  in  a  course  of  stubborn  resistance  to  the 
commands  of  his  master,  his  landlord,  or  his  king,  notwith- 
standing admonition  upon  admonition,  warning  upon  warn- 
ing, threat  upon  threat,  could  it  be  said  with  the  least  colour 
of  reason  that  he  respected  or  cared  for  him, — that  he  did 
not  treat  him  with  slight  ?  Suppose  that,  after  many  repeated 
acts  of  disobedience  and  resistance,  the  servant  or  subject 
were  to  go  to  his  master  or  to  his  king,  and  to  tell  him  in  a 
long  speech,  how  much  he  feared  him,  how  entirely  he  was 
devoted  to  him,  while  he  meant  in  his  heart  all  the  while  to 
go  on  disobeying  and  resisting  him,  exactly  as  he  had  done 
before, — would  not  such  conduct  be  adding  a  new  and 
grosser  insult  to  all  the  former  ones  ?  Would  it  not  be  a 
downright  mockery  ?  even  as  it  was  a  mockery  in  the 
soldiers,  when  they  crowned  Christ,  and  called  him  king, 
and  bowed  the  knee  before  him,  and  then  rose  up  and 
smote  him,  and  spat  on  him.  This  then  would  be  the  chief 
count  in  my  indictment  against  the  main  part  of  tho>e  who 
call  themselves  Christians, — that  they  call  Jesus  Lord,  and 
yet  do  not  the  things  which  he  would  have  them  do,  insult- 


2l8  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

ing  him  by  their  disobedience,  while  they  mock  him  by  their 
lip-service.  Even  of  the  first  kind  of  mockery,  the  mockery 
of  words,  few  are  Avholly  innocent.  Of  the  last  kind  of 
mockery,  the  mockery  of  deeds,  all  have  been  more  or  less 
guilty. 

Under  the  former  head  come  all  those  grosser  offences 
against  piety,  and  even  against  common  decency,  those 
scoffs  at  the  word  and  at  the  laws  of  God,  the  mad  babble  of 
the  unbeliever,  and  the  obscene  ribaldry  of  the  libertine,  the 
mire  in  which  the  swine  walloweth,  and  the  vomit  to  which 
the  dog  returneth.  These  barefaced  mocks  at  sin, — let  me 
rather  call  them  mocks  at  God, — are  still  however  by  God's 
blessing  rare  amongst  us,  at  least  in  country  parishes :  and 
wherever  the  lessons  of  christian  education  are  duly  extended 
to  the  body  of  the  people,  wherever  the  Gospel  is  duly 
preached  and  taught,  as  Christ  ordained  it  should  be,  to  the 
poor, — there  by  God's  blessing  they  shall  still  continue  rare. 
But  there  are  a  number  of  other  offences,  less  glaring  indeed 
than  those  I  have  just  spoken  of,  which  come  under  the 
same  head  of  mocks  at  sin,  and  which,  I  am  afraid,  are  by 
no  means  uncommon  :  though  they  too  are  ruinous  to  all 
purity  of  heart,  and  to  all  holiness  of  life.  Such  are  all 
irreverent  appHcations  of  scripture  phrases,  all  idle  jokes  on 
the  mysteries,  the  ceremonies,  and  the  ordinances  of  religion, 
wherein  many,  especially  among  the  ^oung,  are  too  fond  of 
indulging,  thus  destroying  that  reverence  for  the  things  of 
God,  which  it  behoves  all  to  feel.  To  the  same  class  belong 
the  songs  of  the  drunkard,  and  all  that  foolish  talking  and 
jesting,  which  St.  Paul  forbids  as  not  convenient,  that  is  to 
say,  as  ill-suited  to  the  character  of  a  Christian,  and  at 
variance  witli  that  spotlessness  of  thought  and  word  which 
our  Lord  requires  from  his  people. 

These  things,  common  though  they  be,  every  one  knows 
and  feels  to  be  wrong ;  they  are  so  evidently  mocks  at  sin, 


THE   FOOLISH    MOCKERS. 


219 


nobody  has  a  word  to  say  in  excuse  of  them.  Yet  when 
any  of  us  employ  any  of  those  little  mincing  phrases,  under 
which  people  are  so  fond  of  disguising  broad  and  open 
crimes,  when  we  use  any  of  those  gentler  names  for  sins, 
which  the  world  has  cunningly  substituted  for  the  plainness 
of  christian  language, — are  not  we  ourselves  guilty  of  some- 
thing like  the  same  offence  ?  Are  not  we,  by  a  weak  com- 
pliance with  a  mischievous  and  unholy  custom,  speaking 
lightly  of  the  sins  which  God  has  heavily  condemned,  when 
we  speak  of  them  by  a  light  name  ?  This  is  a  matter  which 
people  ought  to  consider  more  seriously  than  they  do,  see- 
ing that  names  go  so  far  in  governing  the  world.  If  a  lie 
were  always  called  a  lie,  and  nothing  else, — if  a  theft  were 
always  called  a  theft,  and  nothing  else, — if  whoredom  and 
adultery  were  always  called  whoredom  and  adultery,  and 
nothing  else,  —  we  should  have  much  fewer  Hars,  fewer 
thieves,  fewer  whores  and  adulteresses,  than  are  now  seen 
walking  about,  lifting  up  their  heads  without  shame  in  the 
light  of  the  sun.  For  in  that  case  the  sin  would  be  ever  set 
before  us  in  its  naked  hideousness  and  horror;  and  the 
imagination  and  the  conscience  would  start  from  a  sight  so 
frightful  and  revolting.  But  wrap  up  the  same  crime  in  a 
soft  unmeaning  phrase,  so  that  the  ear  shall  not  be  shocked, 
nor  the  conscience  scared,  call  a  lie  a  story  or  a  fib,  call  the 
sin  of  whoredom  a  slip, — and  they  who  are  tempted  too 
readily  fancy  there  can  be  no  great  harm  in  that  of  which 
the  world  speaks  so  mildly  and  indulgently.  That  the 
wretches,  whether  of  high  or  low  degree,  who  wish  to  further 
Satan's  work  on  earth,  and  to  decoy  new  victims  to  his  net, 
— that  they,  who  are  the  devil's  agents,  should  employ  the 
devil's  craft, — is  not  surprising.  But  that  the  great  majority 
of  the  world,  who  have  no  desire  to  lead  their  fellow- 
creatures  into  evil,  who  have  no  wish  to  set  up  the  empire 
of  sin,  who  would  rather  see  men  honest  and  sincere  and 


2  20  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

chaste  and  sober,  than  the  contrary, — that  we  should  fall  as 
almost  all  have  done,  into  this  most  mischievous  practice  of 
miscalling  sins,  is  indeed  a  matter  of  wonder  and  regret. 
And  yet  who  can  say  that  he  has  always  spoken  of  sins,  as 
sins  ought  to  be  spoken  of?  Who  can  say  that  he  has 
never  used  any  of  those  gentle,  delicate  phrases,  by  which 
some  of  the  blackest  crimes  are  frittered  down  into  failings, 
into  errors,  into  pardonable  weaknesses,  which  it  is  harsh 
to  censure  too  severely  ?  It  is  idle  to  plead,  that  the  thing 
remains  the  same,  whatever  name  you  call  it  by.  The  softer 
name  does  not  grate  on  the  ear,  does  not  alarm  the  soul,  and 
frighten  it  off  the  forbidden  ground.  Call  the  sin  by  its  true 
name ;  and  we  see  and  feel  that  it  is  a  thing  hateful  to  man, 
and  condemned  by  the  law  of  God.  Indeed  this  is  the  very 
reason  why  people  blink  the  true  name :  they  are  loth  to 
speak  too  much  evil  of  it.  Mealy-mouthed  in  this  matter 
alone,  they  are  loth  to  speak  evil  of  sin.  Who  on  the  other 
hand  can  say  that  he  has  always  spoken  of  piety  and  holi- 
ness, as  piety  and  holiness  ought  to  be  spoken  of?  For 
here  again  the  world  is  wont  to  speak  through  the  devil's 
trumpet :  here  again  it  has  a  set  of  misnomers,  another  set 
of  mocks.  While  it  speaks  of  the  foulest  sins  by  harmless 
and  familiar  names,  turning  stains  into  spots,  and  spots  into 
specks,  it  no  sooner  catches  a  glimpse  of  anything  that  looks 
like  piety,  than  it  sets  up  a  cry  against  it,  ridiculing  it, 
scoffing  at  it,  magnifying  every  petty  act  of  self-denial  into 
a  piece  of  pharisaical  hypocrisy.  And  here  again  even  those 
who  profess  to  be  Christians,  even  those  who  profess  to  wish 
that  their  neighbours  should  be  good  Christians,  are  too  apt 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  world,  to  jeer  where  the  world 
jeers,  and  to  rail  where  the  world  rails. 

This  is  one,  and  all  must  acknowledge,  a  very  common 
vv'ay,  in  which  the  world  at  present  is  wont  to  make  a  mock 
at  sin.     Another  and  worse  form  of  the  same  otfence,  yet,  I 


THE    FOOLISH    MOCKERS.  221 

fear,  a  ver)^  common  one  also,  is  when  men,  in  looking  at 
any  wicked  conduct,  suffer  themselves  to  be  dazzled  by- 
some  of  its  accompaniments,  so  as  to  lose  sight  of  its 
wickedness,  and  in  speaking  of  it,  instead  of  expressing  a 
righteous  indignation  at  its  sinfulness,  will  talk  with  admira- 
tion of  the  agreeable  qualities  with  which  the  criminal  has 
adorned  his  crime,  or  of  the  talents  which  he  has  misapplied 
to  it.  Who  has  not  heard  the  reveller  and  the  libertine,  if 
he  happens  to  be  lively  and  companionable,  praised  as 
pleasant  and  goodhumoured  ?  Who  has  not  heard  rogues 
highly  spoken  of  for  their  dexterity,  and  almost  applauded 
when  sharpwitted?  Who  has  not  witnessed  how  in  the 
opinion  of  the  world  cleverness,  or  courage,  covers  a  multi- 
tude of  sins  ?  Yet,  common  as  such  judgments  are,  surely 
they  stamp  the  mark  of  folly  on  the  brow  of  all  who  so 
judge  of  sin.  No  one  thinks  of  praising  a  poison  for  being 
either  sweet  or  strong.  No  one  takes  young  tigers  into  his 
house,  and  rears  them  as  playmates  for  his  children,  because 
their  claws  are  so  sharp,  and  their  gripe  so  crushing.  Yet 
the  same  man,  who  would  never  think  of  trusting  his  child 
with  the  sweet  or  strong  poison,  who  could  not  sleep  in  his 
bed,  if  he  knew  that  a  beast  of  prey  was  prowling  about  his 
dwelling,  will  talk  in  the  presence  of  his  family  as  if  there 
were  no  harm  in  wickedness,  provided  it  be  pleasant,  or 
clever,  or  audacious,  that  is  to  say,  provided  it  be  great  and 
dangerous  and  attractive,  and  all  but  inexcusable.  Now 
how  are  we  to  account  for  this  glaring  difference  between 
our  judgments  with  regard  to  physical  and  moral  evil? 
How  comes  it,  that,  if  a  thing  be  deadly  to  the  body,  we 
care  not  for  its  sweetness,  and  dread  it  in  proportion  to  its 
power,  whereas,  if  a  thing  be  deadly  to  the  soul,  we  prize 
it  for  its  attractiveness,  and  admire  it  for  its  power,  although 
both  these  qualities  render  it  more  deadly  ?  The  reason  is 
plain :  we  have  a  prudent  and  wholesome  dread  of  bodily 


222  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

pain  and  death,  and  are  foolishly  careless  about  what  can 
only  hurt  and  kill  the  soul.  Sin  in  our  eyes  is  a  small 
matter,  so  small,  that  the  very  qualities  which  render  it 
more  sinful,  strip  it  in  our  eyes  of  its  oftensiveness,  and  so 
conceal  that  offensiveness,  that  we  are  ready  to  embrace 
and  make  friends  with  it.  Thus  here  we  have  another  way 
in  which  men  are  very  apt  to  make  light  of  sin,  and  to  shew 
their  want  of  clear  sightedness,  their  want  of  sound  judgment, 
their  want  of  right  feeling,  in  a  word,  to  shew  their  foohsh- 
ness  in  so  doing.  This  is  a  matter  on  which  it  is  needful  to 
speak  plainly:  because  it  is  truly  monstrous  that,  in  a 
christian  country,  the  thing  most  frequently  left  out  of 
account  in  speaking  or  judging  of  any  action  should  be  its 
righteousness  or  sinfulness.  Nor  would  anything  that  man 
can  do  work  more  powerfully  to  the  encouragement  of 
goodness,  and  to  the  discountenancing  of  irrehgion  and 
immorality,  than  a  strict  stern  habit  of  calling  everything, 
be  it  good  or  be  it  evil,  by  its  true  and  christian  name. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that,  even  in  England,  and  in  our 
days,  there  are  many  ways  in  which  people  still  make  a 
mock  at  sin  in  their  words,  and  that  such  conduct  richly 
deserves  the  charge  of  foolishness  given  to  it  in  the  text. 
But  there  is  also  another  way  of  making  a  mock  at  sin,  in 
deed.  If  all  pretence  and  makebelieve  be  more  or  less  a 
mockery,  then  assuredly  a  long-continued  course  of  such 
pretences,  in  which  the  tongue  goes  on  crying  VeSj  while  the 
heart  all  the  time  is  muttering  JVa,  must  prove  a  man  to  be 
habitually  and  insolently  regardless  of  the  thing  or  person 
that  he  treats  with  such  solemn  contempt.  Such,  we  say, 
would  be  the  case,  if  a  servant,  alter  disobeying  his  master, 
— a  tenant,  after  defrauding  his  landlord, — a  subject,  after 
rebelling  against  his  king, — should  go  and  make  dutiful 
promises  without  any  intention  of  performing  them.  Such 
too,  if  we  are  God's  subjects  and  servants, — if  we  are  his 


THE    FOOLISH    MOCKERS. 


223 


tenants,  holding  our  life  and  health  and  all  our'  enjoyments 
solely  under  him,  and  at  his  will, — such  must  also  be  the 
case  with  us  Christians,  whenever  we  turn  our  hearts  away 
from  God,  and  yet  draw  near  to  him  with  a  thoughtless  or 
hypocritical  lip-service.  This  question  may  be  brought  to  a 
speedy  issue.  We  are  assembled  here  in  church,  to  entreat 
God's  pardon  for  our  sins,  to  acknowledge  that  we  have 
failed  to  do  what  we  ought  to  have  done,  and  have  done 
what  we  ought  not  to  have  done :  for  all  these  faults  we 
have  entreated  to  be  forgiven,  and  have  besought  God  to 
give  us  his  gracious  help,  that  we  may  lead  better  lives  in 
future.  Now  let  every  person  ask  himself  this  simple  ques- 
tion :  '*  Did  my  heart  go  along  with  my  lips,  and  with  the 
voice  of  the  minister,  when  these  petitions  were  repeated? 
Did  I  really  feel  the  slightest  touch  of  grief  at  having  made 
so  base  and  worthless  a  return  to  my  King  and  Master  for 
all  his  manifold  loving-kindnesses  to  me?  Was  I  in  any 
degree  sorry  for  having  offended  God  ?  Have  I  at  this 
moment  any  sort  of  wish  to  serve  him  better  in  future?" 
If  you  have  not  felt  any  of  these  things,  you  must  be  well 
aware  that  your  prayers  have  been  only  so  much  froth,  and 
that  your  whole  service  this  evening  has  been  no  better 
than  a  grave  mockery.  Yet  it  is  probably  the  only  service 
that  many  of  you  render  God  from  one  week's  end  to  the 
other.  Is  it  not  too  true  then,  my  brethren,  that  of  this 
sinful  mockery,  this  mockery  by  deeds,  we  have  all  of  us 
been  more  or  less  guilty  ?  God  grant  that  we  may  not  be 
so  now,  or  that,  if  any  are  so  now,  they  may  never  be  so 
again  ! 

But  some  of  you  will  perhaps  say,  that  you  mean  to 
repent  and  turn  to  God  by-and-by,  and  so  what  you  do  now 
does  not  much  signify.  Unholy  and  godless  as  your  hves 
may  be  now,  Christ's  merits  are  sufficient  to  wash  away  all 
sin  ;  and  you  mean  to  take  advantage  of  them,  when  you 


2  24  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

have  given  your  passions  a  run  some  years  longer.  And  is 
not  this  a  fresh  mock,  and  perhaps  the  worst  of  all  ?  To 
take  advantage  of  a  person  usually  means  to  cheat  him ; 
and  so  in  fact  do  they  who  talk  or  think  in  this  way,  purpose 
in  their  hearts  to  cheat  Christ.  Because  Christ  died  to 
deliver  us  from  our  sins,  that  we  may  live  a  life  of  righteous- 
ness, therefore  do  they  continue  in  their  sins,  and  plead  the 
mercy  of  God  as  a  ground  for  cleaving  to  their  iniquity.  If 
men  really  valued  that  mercy,  as  they  say  they  do,  if  they 
duly  estimated  the  price  it  cost  to  purchase  their  forgiveness, 
would  they  dare  so  abuse  it  ? 

But  the  guilt  of  such  mockery  is  too  plain  :  let  me  rather 
speak  of  its  folly.  It  is  the  folly  of  playing  with  death.  It 
is  the  folly  of  provoking  God  to  cut  us  off  in  the  midst  of 
our  calculating  wickedness.  We  know,  he  can  read  our 
hearts  :  we  know,  he  can  see  our  purpose  to  cheat  him. 
What  then  !  do  we  think  we  can  outwit  God  ?  Above  all 
is  such  conduct  folly,  because  we  are  disabling  our  hearts 
and  souls  every  day  more  and  more  for  the  work  of  repent- 
ance ;  without  which,  we  know  and  believe,  we  can  have 
no  part  in  the  promises  of  the  Gospel.  For  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that,  the  longer  a  man  persists  in  sin,  the  harder 
it  is  to  leave  it  off.  His  heart  is  deadened  ;  his  conscience 
is  blunted ;  his  soul  closes  itself  by  little  and  little  against 
the  impulses  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Thus  at  last  it  becomes  as 
impossible, — the  word  is  a  fearful,  but  a  true  one, — it 
becomes  as  impossible,  naturally  speaking,  for  the  hardened 
sinner  to  shake  off  his  nature  and  do  well,  as  for  the 
Ethiopian  to  change  his  skin,  or  for  the  leopard  to  change 
his  spots. 

Yet  be  the  difficulty  of  repentance  what  it  may,  repent 
we  must :  or  we  shall  be  found  wanting  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. I  need  not  tell  you  by  whom  we  are  to  be  tried. 
You  know,— every  one  here  must  know, — that  he  is  to  be 


THE    FOOLISH    MOCKERS.  225 

tried  by  Jesus  Christ.  Yes,  that  Saviour,  whose  name,  and 
whose  Father's  name,  the  hardened  sinner  has  so  often  taken 
in  vain, — whose  words  were  read  in  church,  but  he  would 
not  come,  or,  if  he  came,  would  not  listen, — whose  body 
and  blood  were  set  before  him  on  the  sacramental  table,  but 
he  refused  to  be  fed  with  that  living  bread,  and  to  drink  of 
that  blessed  cup, — that  Saviour,  at  whose  name,  at  whose 
words,  at  whose  mercy,  at  whose  love,  the  hardened  sinner 
has  all  his  lite  been  making  mock,  will  then  be  his  judge. 
God  "  will  judge  the  world  (says  St.  Paul,  Acts  xvii.  31)  by 
that  man  whom  he  has  ordained,"  even  by  his  own  Son,  who 
in  the  beginning  created  man,  and  afterwards  was  himself 
made  man,  and  died  for  man,  and  knoweth  everything  that 
is  in  man.  Is  it  a  great  comfort  to  have  so  good  a  judge? 
Is  it  a  great  comfort  to  the  sincere  believer  that  God  should 
appoint  his  own  Son,  the  Friend  of  man,  the  Advocate  of 
man,  to  exercise  judgment  on  that  great  day  ?  Can  he 
feel  more  confidence  in  laying  bare  the  weaknesses  of  his 
heart  to  Him  who  was  in  all  things  tempted  like  as  we  are  ? 
Do  we  feel  certain  that  he  will  pity  the  poor  and  ignorant, 
inasmuch  as  he  himself  was  poor,  and  chose  out  his  apostles 
from  the  poor  and  ignorant  ?  I  grant  it ;  and  praised  be 
God  for  it !  Else  who  could  stand  before  that  dreadful 
judgment-seat,  if  justice  were  not  to  be  tempered  with 
mercy  ?  But  on  the  other  hand  it  must  needs  heighten  the 
fears  of  every  hardened  sinner,  that  our  Saviour,  his  anointed 
King,  gracious  to  all  who  will  accept  his  grace,  but,  to  all 
who  will  not,  terrible,  is  to  come  in  person,  with  ten  thou- 
sand of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  on  all  the  wicked. 
Then  shall  they  look  on  him  whom  they  have  pierced  by 
their  rebellious  folly  and  ingratitude.  They  shall  see  him 
whom  they  have  crucified, — crucified  afresh,  the  apostle 
says, — ^by  sinning  and  making  mock  at  sin.  O  righteous 
Lord,  who  can  abide  thee  on  that  dreadful  day  !     Come  to 

Q 


2  26  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

US  mercifully  in  this  world,  we  beseech  thee,  that  we  be 
not  separated  from  thee  in  the  world  to  come.  For  all,  my 
brethren,  all  who  are  not  united  to  God  here,  must  never 
expect  to  be  united  to  him  hereafter.  And  who  are  these 
wretched  people,  who  can  never  be  peiTuitted  to  dwell  with 
God,  or  to  taste  the  joys  found  only  in  his  presence  ?  They 
are  the  persons  spoken  of  in  the  text,  the  fools  who  have 
made  a  mock  at  sin,  the  disobedient,  the  careless,  the  im- 
penitent, the  sabbath-breaker,  the  drunkard,  the  lustful,  the 
covetous,  the  worldly-minded,  the  hard-hearted.  These 
persons,  with  their  eyes  open,  have  chosen  death  instead  of 
life. 

If  these  things  are  really  so,  if  the  end  of  these  foolish 
mockers  is  so  certain  and  terrible,  let  us,  my  brethren,  seek 
wisdom, — that  true  wisdom  which  cometh  from  above,  and 
which  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  full  of  mercy  and  gentle- 
ness, and  of  all  good  works.  Happy  is  the  man  who  findeth 
this  wisdom  !  whoso  findeth  her  findeth  life,  and  shall  obtain 
the  favour  of  the  Lord.  For  God  delights  in  her,  as  most 
agreeable  to  his  nature,  as  most  resembling  himself,  as  his 
own  gift,  the  offspring  of  his  own  perfection,  as  begetting 
honour,  love,  and  hearty  obedience  to  his  will,  as  glorifying 
him  the  most  truly  by  best  promoting  the  happiness  of  his 
creatures.  Let  us  seek  this  wisdom,  and  seek  it  where  it  is 
to  be  found, — in  the  Bible,  the  book  of  wisdom,  and  of 
life;  more  especially  in  the  gospels,  in  the  words  of  our 
blessed  Saviour,  his  commands,  his  promises,  his  warnings, 
his  entreaties.  Parts  of  the  Bible  may  be  difficult  to  under- 
stand :  but  these  are  not  difficult,  except  to  practice.  In 
truth,  were  they  as  easy  to  perform,  as  they  are  to  under- 
stand, we  should  no  longer  have  need  of  praying  for  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  kingdom  of  God 
would  be  come  already;  the  earth  would  be  transfigured 
into  heaven.     Moreover  while  you  seek  for  the  seeds  of 


THE   FOOLISH    MOCKERS.  227 

wisdom  in  the  Bible,  you  must  not  allow  them  to  He  there. 
You  must  pick  them  up,  and  try  to  sow  them  in  your  own 
hearts,  weeding  your  hearts  at  the  same  time,  by  examining 
them  carefully  in  the  light  of  the  Bible,  and  plucking  up 
everything  growing  therein,  that  the  Bible  condemns.  But 
neither  will  the  seeds  we  sow  grow  up,  nor  shall  we  be  able 
to  root  up  the  weeds,  unless  God  blesses  our  labours  :  and 
his  blessing  can  only  be  obtained  by  diligent  and  fervent 
prayer.  Therefore  we  must  follow  the  command  of  St. 
James,  who  tells  us  that,  if  we  lack  wisdom,  we  must  ask  it 
of  God,  who  giveth  liberally.  All  who  lack  wisdom  must 
ask  it  of  God  ;  that  is,  all  men  who  have  ever  lived  :  for  all 
lack  it.  No  one  had  ever  enough  of  it :  no  one  has  enough 
of  it  to  learn  its  value,  but  wishes  earnestly  for  more. 

What  remains  then  my  brethren,  seeing  that  we  all  lack 
wisdom,  but  that  we  all  unite  in  praying  for  it  to  Him  who 
alone  can  give  it,  to  God,  the  Eternal  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  ? 

O  Lord,  who  hast  taught  us  by  thy  holy  apostle,  St.  James, 
to  pray  to  thee  for  wise  and  understanding  hearts,  we  kneel 
before  thee  in  humble  trust  that,  what  thou  hast  commanded 
us  to  ask  for,  thou  wilt  grant  us  out  of  the  treasury  of  thy 
mercies.  Therefore,  O  Everlasting  Wisdom,  the  Maker, 
Redeemer,  and  Governor  of  all  things,  let  some  comfortable 
beams  from  the  great  body  of  thy  heavenly  light  descend 
upon  us,  to  enlighten  our  dark  minds,  to  quicken  our  dead 
hearts,  to  kindle  them  with  the  love  of  thee,  and  to  guide 
our  steps  along  the  path  of  thy  laws  through  the  gloomy 
shades  of  this  world,  to  that  region  of  eternal  light  and  bliss, 
where  thou,  most  blessed  Jesus,  the  Wisdom  of  God,  and 
the  Power  of  God,  reignest  with  the  Father  and  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  glory,  and  majesty,  world  without  end. 


XIX. 

THE  UNJUST  STEWARD. 

Luke  xvi.  8,  9. 

And  the  Lord  commended  the  unjust  steward,  because  lie 
had  done  wisely :  for  the  children  of  this  world  are  in  their 
generation  wiser  than  the  children  of  light.  And  I  say  unto 
you,  Make  to  yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness, that,  when  ye  fail,  they  may  receive  you  into 
everlasting  habitations. 

'"PHESE  words  are  from  the  parable  of  the  unjust 
-^  steward :  and  there  are  two  points  in  them  by  which, 
owing  to  a  want  of  clearness  in  the  translation,  many 
persons  have  been  a  good  deal  puzzled.  How  comes  our 
Lord  Jesus,  they  ask,  to  commend  the  dishonest  steward  ? 
How  again  comes  he  to  bid  us  make  friends  of  the  mammon 
of  unrighteousness?  or,  as  most  readers  nowadays  are  likely 
to  understand  the  words,  to  make  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness our  friend?  If  these  two  difficulties  are 
removed,  the  parable  is  clear  enough ;  and  removed  they 
may  be  in  a  very  few  words. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
commends  the  unjust  steward,  but  the  steward's  own  lord 
and  master;  for  this  is  the  word  which  we  should  use 
nowadays :  it  is  the  steward's  master,  who,  being  struck  by 
the  cleverness  he  had  shewn,  commends  it:  just  as  people 


THE   UNJUST   STEWARD.  229 

now  might  perhaps  speak  with  admiration  of  the  cleverness 
and  skill  displayed  by  a  forger,  in  copying  a  very  difficult 
bank  note,  without  in  the  least  intending  by  so  doing  to 
justify  or  excuse  his  crime.  We  should  all  agree  in  con- 
demning that.  All  would  agree  in  saying  it  was  a  sad  pity 
the  man  had  turned  his  cleverness  to  such  a  bad  purpose. 
Still  a  person  may  do  a  bad  thing  in  a  sharp,  handy  manner; 
and  we  might  praise  the  manner  of  doing  it,  while  we  utterly 
reprobated  the  thing  itself.  Just  so  it  is  with  the  steward's 
master  in  the  parable.  He  can  never  have  meant  to  praise 
his  servant  for  defrauding  him  of  his  rents :  but  he  was 
struck  with  the  cleverness  of  the  rogue's  contrivance ;  and 
that  he  commended. 

As   to   the   other   difficulty,  it  arises  altogether  from  a 
change  in  the  meaning  of  the  little  word  of;  which  our  fore- 
fathers often  used,  where  we  should  now  say  by.     Thus  in 
the  Bible  we  often  find  such   expressions  as   "taught   of 
God,"  "  warned  of  God."     Here  however,  though  in  these 
days  we  should  say,  "  taught  by  God,"  "  warned  by  God," 
still,  as  the  words  cannot  mean  anything  else,  there  is  no 
uncertainty.     But  there  are  many  passages  in   which  it  is 
otherwise,   and   we   may   easily   fall   into   mistakes.      For 
instance,  when  we  read  in  the  ist  chapter  of  St.  Matthew, 
"  Now  all  this  was  done  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet," — at  first  thought  we 
should  all  take  these  words  to  mean  "  what  was  spoken 
co7icerning  the  Lord  by  the  prophet;"  whereas  their  real 
meaning  is,  that  "  all  this  was  done  to  the  end  that  what 
was  spoken  by  the  Lord  through  the  mouth  of  his  prophet 
might  be  fulfilled."     I  have  said  thus  much  about  this  little 
word,  because  I   believe  very  few  persons  read  the  New 
Testament,  who  do  not  stumble  at  my  text ;  and  numbers, 
even  among  those  who  have  had  what  is  called  a  good 
education,  turn  away  from  it  in  sad  perplexity,  unable  to 


230  THE   ALTON   SERMONS. 

conceive  how  Jesus  Christ  could  command  them  to  make 
the  mammon  of  unrighteousness  their  friend.  And  assuredly 
he  does  not  so  command  them.  What  he  bids  us  do,  is  to 
make  friends  by,  or  by  the  help  of,  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness :  that  is,  to  employ  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness,— mark  the  words, — to  employ  that  mammon, 
that  riches,  which  is  called  unrighteous,  because  by  so 
many  it  is  gained  dishonestly,  and  spent  wickedly, — to 
employ  that  riches,  which  so  many  employ  amiss  to  their 
soul's  hurt,  in  making  friends  for  ourselves,  who  shall  receive 
us  into  everlasting  habitations.  In  other  words,  our  blessed 
Lord  commands  us  to  make  such  a  use  of  our  money,  and 
of  all  our  other  talents,  be  they  what  they  may,  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  good  of  our  brethren,  that  after  our  death 
it  may  please  our  God  and  father  to  receive  us  into  the 
heavenly  abodes  of  never-ending  peace  and  joy. 

The  parable  having  thus  been  cleared  of  its  main  diffi- 
culties, its  general  purport  may  be  stated  as  follows.  There 
was  a  rich  landholder,  who  entrusted  the  management  of  a 
large  estate  to  his  steward.  After  a  time  charges  were 
brought  against  the  steward  of  wasting  and  injuring  the 
property.  So  his  master  sent  for  him,  told  him  he  should 
turn  him  off,  and  bade  him  bring  in  his  accounts.  On 
hearing  this  the  steward  was  in  despair :  he  knew  he  should 
never  get  another  place,  after  being  sent  away  in  such  a 
manner :  and  he  had  saved  no  money  to  live  upon.  "  I 
cannot  dig,"  he  said  to  himself;  "  I  am  ashamed  to  turn 
beggar.  What  shall  I  do?"  At  last  he  hit  on  a  device,  to 
gain  the  goodwill  of  his  master's  tenants,  so  that,  when  he 
had  lost  his  home,  they  might  be  ready  to  befriend  him. 
He  sent  for  them;  and  to  the  first  that  came  he  said, 
"How  much  does  your  rent  amount  to  this  year?"  To 
understand  this  question,  and  the  answer  to  it,  you  must 
bear  in  mind  that  it  was  not  the  custom  in  those  days  for 


THE    UNJUST   STEWARD.  23  I 

the  tenant  to  pay  his  landlord  a  fixed  sum  of  money  by  way 
of  rent.  In  those  countries  the  land  used  to  be  let,  and,  I 
believe,  still  is  let  on  entirely  different  terms.  The  tenants 
are  mostly  poor  men.  They  have  no  money  to  stock  their 
farms,  and  to  manage  them  on  their  own  account.  So  the 
landlord  supplies  the  stock,  the  seed,  the  tools,  and  what- 
ever else  is  wanted  for  the  cultivation,  of  the  farm:  the 
tenant,  or  husbandman,  finds  the  labour :  and  they  divide 
the  produce,  whatever  it  may  be,  between  them.  The 
tenant  keeps  a  certain  portion,  generally  half,  to  himself, 
and  pays  over  the  remainder  to  his  landlord.  It  is  not 
hard  to  see  what  abuses  and  what  dishonesty  this  mode  of 
taking  land  opens  a  way  to.  The  steward  in  the  parable 
takes  advantage  of  it,  to  make  friends  with  the  tenants  at 
his  master's  cost.  He  asks  the  first  farmer  who  comes  to 
him,  "How  much  is  your  rent  this  year?"  And  the  man 
says  to  him,  "  A  hundred  measures  of  oil.  My  olives  have 
turned  out  very  well  this  year,  and  have  given  a  good 
quantity  of  oil;  and  my  landlord's  share  comes  to  a  hundred 
measures."  "  What,"  said  the  steward  again  to  him ;  "  a 
hundred  measures  of  oil  from  such  a  small  oliveyard  as 
yours  ?  I  am  sure  my  master  will  be  quite  satisfied  if  you 
pay  him  half  that.  So  take  your  bill,  and  write  fifty." 
Having  thus  made  a  friend  of  the  man  who  farmed  the 
oliveyard,  the  steward  repeated  the  same  piece  of  roguery 
with  a  tenant  who  rented  some  corn-land.  He,  it  seems, 
owed  his  landlord  a  hundred  measures  of  wheat.  But  the 
steward  again  said,  "  It  is  too  much  for  you  to  pay,"  and 
bade  him  take  his  bill,  and  set  down  fourscore.  By  some 
accident  the  steward's  trick  came  to  the  master's  ears ;  "svho 
was  struck  with  his  cleverness,  and  though  he  had  been  a 
sufferer  by  it,  commended  him  for  it, — commended  him, 
not  for  the  roguery,  but  for  the  forethought  and  ingenuity  it 
shewed. 


232  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

With  this  commendation  the  parable  ends.  What  follows 
is  our  Lord's  remark  on  the  story,  and  the  moral  he  would 
have  us  draw  from  it.  "  In  this  story  (he  says)  you  see  an 
example,  how  the  children  of  this  world  are  mostly  wiser  in 
their  generation  than  the  children  of  light.  In  this  wisdom 
I  would  have  you  follow  them.  I  would  have  you  too 
endeavour  to  make  friends  to  yourselves, — not  such  friends 
as  the  unjust  steward  made;  for  he  made  only  earthly 
friends, — nor  by  the  same  dishonest  practices;  for  that 
would  be  against  the  law  of  God  and  man :  but  I  would 
have  you  no  less  anxious  to  make  friends,  no  less  careful, 
no  less  forecasting  than  he  was.  Only  let  your  friends  be 
heavenly  friends,  who  will  receive  you  into  everlasting 
habitations.  Do  you  wish  to  know  how  such  friends  are  to 
be  gained  ?  They  are  to  be  gained  by  the  help  of  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness,  by  making  the  most  of  all 
your  earthly  means  and  opportunities  of  serving  God  and 
helping  your  neighbour." 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  parable,  and  our  Lord's 
remark  on  it,  without  being  struck  by  the  broad  assertion 
that  the  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation 
than  the  children  of  light.  The  children  of  light  are  those 
who  have  been  called  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and 
who  have  given  ear  to  that  call,  at  least  in  some  measure. 
They  believe  in  Jesus  Christ :  at  least  they  profess  to 
believe  in  him.  They  come  to  church,  and  listen  decently 
to  what  is  read  and  taught  there.  Sometimes  too  they  pray, 
or  at  least  say  their  prayers,  at  home.  They  read  a  chapter 
in  the  Bible  now  and  then.  In  one  way  or  other  they  have 
learnt  enough  about  religion  to  know  the  kind  of  life  which, 
as  Christians,  they  ought  to  lead, — that  they  ought  to  be 
holy,  kind,  humble,  self-denying.  Nay,  they  have  even  a 
wish  to  lead  such  a  life.  Thus  much  at  least  is  needed  to 
make  what  our  Lord  in  the  text  calls  a  child  of  light.     The 


THE    UNJUST   STEWARD.  233 

child  of  this  world,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  who,  like 
Gallio,  the  Roman  governor,  careth  for  none  of  these  things. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  he  should  be  a  professed  unbeliever, 
only  he  never  troubles  his  head  about  religion.  He  may 
be  what  the  world  calls  a  vicious  man,  or  not ;  just  as  his 
heart  happens  to  be  set  on  what  the  world  calls  pleasure,  or 
on  what  it  calls  honour,  or  gain.  But  whether  he  leads  a 
vicious,  or  a  decent  reputable  life,  religion  has  no  place  in 
his  heart :  he  lives  without  God  in  the  world.  Now  of 
these  two  men,  our  Lord  says,  the  child  of  this  world  is 
wiser  in  his  generation,  mind ;  that  is,  wiser  in  his  own 
line.  Jesus  does  not  say  that  he  is  wiser  altogether  :  for 
that  he  is  not.  The  folly  of  making  a  wrong  choice, — 
the  folly  of  hungering  after  that  which  is  not  bread,  and 
setting  his  heart  on  things  which  cannot  satisfy, — the  folly 
of  turning  his  back  on  his  heavenly  Father,  of  living  in  care- 
less defiance  or  neglect  of  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  world, 
— the  folly  of  choosing  to  walk  earnestly  and  busily  in  a 
path  which  leads  to  death  and  hell, — with  all  this  heap  of 
follies  the  child  of  this  world  is  justly  chargeable  :  and  it  is 
such  a  pitch  of  foolishness  as  must  entitle  him  to  the  first 
and  foremost  place  in  folly.  He  is  the  fool  of  fools ;  be- 
cause he  chooses  his  course  of  life  wrongly  :  whereas  the 
child  of  light  chooses,  or  at  least  professes  to  choose,  his 
course  of  life  rightly  and  wisely. 

But  after  the  choice  has  been  made,  a  wonderful 
change  takes  place.  He  who  chose  his  path  like  a 
fool,  walks  along  it  like  a  wise  man ;  he  who  chose 
his  like  a  wise  man,  walks  along  it  like  a  fool.  "  The 
children  of  this  world,"  says  Jesus,  "in  their  genera- 
tion, are  wiser  than  the  children  of  light."  How  does  this 
happen?  you  will  naturally  ask.  How  comes  the  fool  to 
act  so  much  more  wisely  than  the  wise  man  ?  and  the  wise 
man  so  much  less  wisely  than  the  fool  ?     My  friends,  there 


234  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


can  be  no  doubt,  the  ground  and  cause  of  all  this  lies  in 
that  evil  bias  of  our  nature,  which,  unless  the  Spirit  of  God 
be  within  us  to  outweigh  and  check  it,  makes  it  so  much 
easier  for  us  to  do  wrong  than  to  do  right.  At  all  events 
the  fact  is  certain.  The  children  of  this  world  do,  in  their 
own  line,  and  according  to  their  own  notions,  act  much 
more  wisely  than  the  children  of  light.  It  is  impossible  to 
walk  through  lire  with  one's  eyes  open,  and  not  perceive 
that  this  is  so.  The  true  child  of  this  world  is  thorough- 
going, active,  persevering.  When  he  has  made  up  his 
mind  that  this  or  that  thing  is  desirable,  he  sets  his 
heart  upon  having  it.  He  casts  about  and  considers,  until 
he  has  hit  on  a  plan  of  getting  it :  and  as  soon  as  he  is 
satisfied  that  his  plan  is  a  good  one,  he  straightway  begins 
carrying  it  into  effect.  It  matters  little  whether  the  object 
of  his  wishes  be  great  or  small,  whether  it  be  an  estate,  or  a 
horse ;  if  the  child  of  this  world  wants  to  buy  it,  he  takes 
the  proper  steps  for  doing  so,  and  loses  no  time.  He  does 
not  say,  "That  horse  would  just  suit  me  :  I  never  saw  one 
I  liked  half  so  much  :  so  the  next  time  I  come  this  way, 
some  six  months  hence,  I  will  ask  the  price  of  it."  He  is 
too  wise  for  that:  he  knows  that  six  months  hence  the 
horse  may  no  longer  be  on  sale :  he  bethinks  himself 
that  no  time  is  like  the  present ;  and  if  he  finds  that  the 
horse  is  to  be  had  for  a  fair  price,  he  closes  the  bargain  at 
once.  It  is  the  same  whatever  he  engages  in.  It  he  is  a 
man  of  business,  he  gives  his  mind  to  his  business  :  he  takes 
more  delight  in  thinking  about  it,  than  about  anydiing  else. 
No  subject  interests  him  so  much.  Any  firstrate  book  that 
treats  of  it,  he  would  be  sure  to  study ;  and  probably  would 
have  its  chief  rules  and  directions  at  his  fingers'  ends,  ready 
to  be  applied  on  all  occasions.  Ii  he  cannot  learn  from 
books,  he  takes  care  to  learn  from  men.  He  wastes  no 
opportunity  of  talking  about  his  business  with  persons  of 


THE   UNJUST   STEWARD.  235 

great  experience  in  it.  He  is  glad  to  hear  what  they  may- 
have  to  say  upon  it :  any  practical  hints  or  remarks  which 
they  may  drop,  he  stores  up  and  treasures  for  future  use. 
In  a  word,  he  lives  in  his  business,  and  for  his  business,  and 
has  very  few  cares  or  thoughts  out  of  it.  Such  is  the  child 
of  this  world,  if  he  happens  to  be  a  man  of  business  :  and 
assuredly  he  may  well  be  called  wise  in  his  generation.  For 
he  has  the  wisdom  to  act  up  to  his  own  notions.  He  places 
his  happiness  in  his  business ;  and  thither  he  goes  to  seek 
it.  He  thinks  success  in  his  worldly  calling  the  best  thing 
that  can  happen  to  him :  and  that  success  he  does  every- 
thing man  can  do  to  ensure,  by  diligence,  by  thought,  by 
care,  by  painstaking,  and  very  often  by  denying  himself 
many  pleasures  and  comforts.  In  a  word,  Mammon  is  the 
god  he  has  chosen  for  himself:  and  he  serves  his  god,  as  a 
god  ought  to  be  served,  with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all  his 
mind,  and  with  all  his  strength.  He  is  wise  therefore  in 
his  way. 

Or  suppose  that,  instead  of  a  man  of  business,  the  child 
of  this  world  happens  to  be  a  man  of  pleasure, — will  he  still 
be  wise  in  his  generation  ?  Yes,  he  will  still  be  wise.  He 
will  not  indeed  shew  his  wisdom  in  the  same  way  as  the 
man  of  business  :  because  the  road  of  pleasure  is  different 
from  the  road  of  business.  But  in  his  own  way,  and  on  his 
own  road,  he  will  shew  his  wisdom  just  as  much.  He  will 
seek  pleasure  and  amusement  with  the  same  eagerness,  with 
the  same  activity,  with  the  same  perseverance,  with  which 
the  other  seeks  gain  and  profit.  The  true  pleasure-hunter, 
who  makes  that  his  object  in  life,  will  follow  after  it  early 
and  late.  Who  so  regular  as  he  at  the  beershop,  if  he  is 
poor,  or  at  the  tavern  and  gaming-house,  if  he  is  rich  ?  He 
is  sure  to  be  seen  at  every  place  of  amusement,  at  every 
merrymaking,  every  feast  and  fair,  that  he  can  contrive  to 
find  his  way  to.     He  is  fond  of  keeping  company  with  per- 


236  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

sons  of  his  own  sort.  When  he  is  with  them,  what  deUght 
does  he  take  in  telling  over  his  own  adventures  to  them,  and 
in  hearing  theirs  !  His  head  is  full  of  lewd  stories  and 
foolish  songs.  Thus  he  too  is  wise  in  his  generation.  For 
he  makes  his  belief,  his  words,  and  his  deeds  tally.  He  has 
placed  his  happiness  in  pleasure  ;  and  pleasure  he  thinks  of, 
pleasure  he  talks  of,  pleasure  he  follows  after  from  year's 
end  to  year's  end.  Everybody  who  knows  him  must  see 
that  pleasure  is  the  great  end  of  his  life.  To  pleasure  he 
gives  himself  up.  He  has  chosen  Belial,  the  god  of  lewd- 
ness and  debauchery,  for  his  god  :  and  Belial  he  serves,  as 
the  other  served  Mammon,  with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all 
his  mind,  and  with  all  his  strength. 

This  then  is  the  wisdom  of  the  children  of  this  world, 
that  what  they  do  they  do  thoroughly, — that  what  they  pro- 
fess to  think  desirable,  they  strive  in  earnest  to  obtain, — 
that  they  do  not  allow  a  little  thing  to  stop  them,  or  lure 
them  aside,  when  pursuing  the  object  of  their  wishes, — that 
they  worship  their  false  gods  with  a  true  and  zealous 
worship. 

Turn  your  eyes  now  to  the  children  of  light,  and  tell  me 
whether  you  can  see  the  like  marks  of  wisdom  in  them. 
We  profess  to  make  heaven  the  object  of  our  lives  :  are  we 
really  and  earnestly  following  after  it  ?  Are  we  as  active,  as 
zealous,  as  steady  and  persevering,  in  seeking  after  our 
heavenly  inheritance,  as  the  children  of  this  world  are  in 
seeking  after  gain  and  pleasure  ?  Are  we  as  much,  or  half 
as  much,  in  earnest  ?  Do  we  never  say,  six  months  hence 
will  be  time  enough  to  think  seriously,  and  to  repent  and 
turn  to  God  ?  Do  we  take  delight  in  the  best  book  that 
was  ever  written,  and  keep  its  rules  at  our  fingers'  ends,  in 
order  to  scjuare  our  behaviour  by  them  ?  Are  we  anxious 
to  seek  the  company,  and  listen  to  the  discourse,  of  such  as 
honour  God  and  keep  his  commandments  ?     Do  we  examme 


THE    UNJUST   STEWARD.  237 

ourselves  regularly,  as  a  merchant  examines  his  accounts  ? 
Do  we,  on  perceiving  a  fault  in  our  christian  life,  set  about 
thinking  how  we  may  best  avoid  it  for  the  future,  and  then, 
having  laid  down  our  plan,  carry  it  immediately  and  steadily 
into  practice  ?  Do  we  rejoice  as  much  in  the  Lord's  day,  as 
the  man  of  business  rejoices  in  his  day  of  sale,  and  the  man 
of  pleasure  in  his  day  of  amusement  ?  Or  do  you  not  often 
love  your  Sunday  rather  as  a  day  of  worldly  rest, — which, 
blessed  be  God  !  he  has  made  it, — than  as  the  day  set  apart 
for  coming  to  God,  and  communing  with  him  in  his  holy 
temple  ?  Alas  !  too  sure  and  certain  is  it,  that  we  do  none 
of  these  things.  We  serve  our  God,  the  great  Maker  and 
Ruler  of  the  world,  with  less  zeal,  with  less  affection,  with 
less  heartiness,  with  less  truth,  than  the  man  of  business  his 
Mammon,  or  the  man  of  pleasure  his  Belial. 

This  is  the  great  fault  and  frailty  of  our  christian  life.  We 
do  our  work  by  halves  ?  Is  this  wise  ?  is  it  reasonable  ?  is 
it  not  the  height  of  madness  ?  to  be  so  sluggish,  so  indo- 
lent, so  Hstless,  so  false-hearted,  in  the  service  of  the  God 
who  made  us,  and  of  the  Saviour  whom  we  declare  to  have 
redeemed  us, — in  the  pursuit  of  the  joys  of  heaven,  which 
we  declare  to  be  the  only  true  joys,  and  which  are  to  last 
for  ever  ?  If  you  did  not  believe  the  Gospel,  if  you  did  not 
proiess  to  be  Christians,  I  might  then  say  you  were  wise  in 
your  generation  ;  I  might  then  exhort  you  to  go  on  in  your 
present  course.  But  seeing  that  you  do  believe  in  Christ, 
seeing  that  you  do  hope  and  wish  for  heaven,  take  a  lesson 
from  the  enemy,  learn  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent.  Let  us 
imitate  the  zeal,  the  perseverance,  the  prudence,  the  courage, 
the  unweariableness,  in  a  word,  the  wisdom,  which  the 
children  of  this  world  shew  in  the  pursuit  of  their  vain  and 
perishable,  of  their  ruinous  and  deadly  objects.  Let  us  be 
as  active  and  as  determined  to  please  God,  as  they  are  to 
please  themselves.     Then,  on  that  great  day,  when  all  the 


238  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

shows  of  this  world  shall  have  passed  away,  and  every  man's 
work  shall  be  made  manifest,— while  their  wisdom  turns  out 
to  be  the  excess  of  folly,  and  their  labour  to  have  been 
vanity  and  vexation, — while,  in  return  for  the  wind  which 
they  have  been  sowing  so  diligently,  they  are  reaping  the 
whirlwind  of  wrath, — the  God,  who  for  his  Son's  sake  will 
vouchsafe  to  accept  our  services,  and  to  look  with  favour  on 
our  imperfect  attempts  to  employ  the  mammon  of  unright- 
eousness in  his  service,  will  receive  us  into  everlasting 
habitations. 


XX. 

THE  EVIL  EYE. 

Matthew  xx.  15. 
Is  thine  eye  evil,  because  I  am  good  ? 

O  UCH  was  the  question  which  the  householder  in  the 
^  parable  put  to  the  labourers  when  they  murmured 
against  him  for  having  been  bountiful  to  their  fellow- 
labourers,  while  he  was  only  just  to  them.  You  probably 
remember  that  this  householder  had  gone  out  early  in  the 
morning,  and  hired  men  to  work  in  his  vineyard  for  a  penny 
a-day.  But  the  men  he  hired  at  first  were  not  enough :  so 
he  went  out  at  different  times  during  the  day  to  get  more 
hands.  All  who  would  engage  with  him  he  hired,  but 
without  any  fixed  agreement,  merely  promising  generally  to 
pay  them  what  was  fair  and  just.  In  the  evening,  when 
work  was  over,  he  told  his  steward  to  pay  the  men,  and 
though  some  of  them  had  worked  only  one  hour,  to  give 
them  all  a  whole  day's  wages.  Each  was  to  have  his  penny. 
Whereupon  those  who  had  been  in  the  vineyard  all  the  day, 
instead  of  rejoicing  at  the  good  fortune  of  their  fellows, 
thought  themselves  hardly  treated,  because  they  had  only 
received  their  due.  "  They  murmured  against  the  good  man 
of  the  house,  saying,  These  last  have  wrought  but  one  hour, 
and  thou  hast  made  them  equal  to  us,  who  have  borne  the 


240  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

burthen  and  heat  of  the  day."  "So  I  have,"  said  the 
master  of  the  vineyard  to  one  of  these  murmurers  :  "  I  have 
paid  you  aHke  :  but  you  have  received  your  just  due :  you 
have  been  paid  the  sum  you  agreed  for ;  take  that  thine  is, 
and  go  thy  way.  May  not  I  do  as  I  hke  with  my  own 
money  ?  If  I  choose  to  make  these  other  men  a  present  of 
a  day's  wages,  what  hurt  or  what  wrong  is  that  to  thee  ?  Is 
thine  eye  evil,  because  I  am  good  ?  "  These  last  words  I 
have  chosen  for  my  text ;  and  it  is  about  them  that  I  am 
going  to  preach  to  you  to-day.  In  other  words,  I  intend 
my  sermon  to  be  on  that  very  evil  thing,  an  evil  eye. 

Some  perhaps  may  here  ask,  what  is  meant  by  an  evil  eye  ? 
I  answer,  that  in  different  places  of  Scripture  different 
things  may  be  meant  by  it.  But  what  is  meant  in  the  text 
is  clear  enough.  The  evil  eye  meant  here  is  such  an  eye  as 
the  labourers  in  the  vineyard  had,  when  they  looked  askance 
at  their  neighbour's  good  fortune.  An  evil  eye  therefore  is 
a  grudging  eye.  To  say  of  any  one  in  this  sense  that  he 
has  an  evil  eye,  is  the  same  as  saying  that  he  is  of  a  grudging 
turn  of  mind.  Now  this  evil  eye,  this  grudging  turn  of 
mind,  is  far  commoner  than  it  ought  to  be.  We  have  still 
too  often  cause  to  ask  the  question  in  the  text,  Is  thine  eye 
evil  ?  Neither  is  the  evil  confined  to  persons  of  any  one  class. 
High  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  young  and  old,  each  may  have 
an  evil  eye.  For  examples  of  this  in  old  times  we  have  only 
to  search  our  Bibles :  where  we  find  that  not  even  the 
greatest  and  most  powerful  persons,  not  even  those  to  whom 
God  has  given  the  most,  are  safe  from  this  dangerous 
malady.  When  Ahab,  the  king  of  Israel,  in  the  midst  of 
his  possessions,  grudged  Naboth  his  vineyard,  and  wanted 
to  take  it  from  him,  was  not  this  an  evil  eye  ?  Again,  did 
not  it  shew  an  evil  eye  in  Haman  (who  was  the  favourite  of 
king  Ahasuerus),  to  call  his  friends  together,  and,  after  tell- 
ing them  of  his  riches  and  poAver,  to  say  to  them,  "  Yet  all 


THE    EVIL    EYE.  241 


this  availeth  me  nothing,  so  long  as  I  see  Mordecai  the  Jew 
sitting  at  the  king's  gate,  who  will  not  bow  to  me  nor  do  me 
reverence."  Surely  Ahab  might  have  been  satisfied  with 
the  riches  of  Samaria.  But  no  :  his  evil  eye  grudged 
Naboth  a  poor  vineyard ;  and  so,  though  he  was  king  of 
Israel,  he  went  to  his  royal  palace,  heavy  and  displeased, 
and  laid  himself  down  on  his  bed,  and  turned  away  his  face, 
and  would  not  eat.  So  might  Haman  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  reverence  paid  him  by  all  the  princes  of  Persia. 
But  no  :  his  evil  eye  stung  his  heart,  because  one  single  Jew 
would  not  do  him  homage. 

Such  is  the  form  which  the  malady  of  an  evil  eye  takes  in 
the  great  of  this  world.  It  quite  destroys  their  relish  for  the 
thousand  earthly  goods  they  have,  because  of  some  paltry 
trifle  which  they  have  not.  How  general  a  malady  must  this 
be  then,  when  even  the  highest  are  not  safe  from  it !  How 
bad  and  painful,  what  a  bhghter  of  happiness  must  it  be, 
when  it  can  thus  turn  the  most  prosperous  lot  into  bitter- 
ness !  Above  all,  how  dangerous  must  it  be,  when  it  could 
lead  to  such  wickedness  as  the  murder  of  Naboth,  and 
Haman's  plot  for  destroying  all  the  Jews  throughout  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Ahasuerus  ! 

But  let  us  come  down  a  few  steps  in  the  ladder  of  life, 
and  look  at  the  middle  classes  of  society  :  shall  we  find  the 
evil  eye  among  them  ?  Among  them  too,  I  grieve  to  sa\', 
we  often  find  the  evil  eye, — not  indeed  shewing  itself  in 
murders,  and  in  plots  for  a  general  massacre :  such  bad 
things,  God  be  praised  !  are  so  entirely  out  of  our  power, 
that  we  do  not  feel  so  much  as  tempted  to  them.  In  these 
days  the  evil  eye  does  not  shew  itself  in  these  horrible  ways  : 
but  it  does  shew  itself  in  a  thousand  ugly  shapes,  and  uuvlcr 
every  one  of  them  breeds  misery  and  mischief.  What  are 
all  those  jealousies  and  rivalries,  which  are  for  ever  dividing 
neighbour  from  neighbour,  friend   from  friend,  and  some- 


242  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

times  even  brother  from  brother,  and  sister  from  sister, — 
what  are  these  but  the  fruits  of  an  evil  eye  ?  Here  you  may 
see  a  man  repining  because  he  is  not  noticed  by  the  great 
man  of  the  country,  while  another  is.  There  a  man  is 
vexing  himself  because  his  neighbour  is  more  popular,  or 
enjoys  more  influence,  or  has  more  skill  and  activity  and 
enterprise.  In  a  third  place  is  a  family  divided  against 
itself,  because  some  one  member  of  it  happens  to  be  a 
greater  favourite  at  home  or  abroad  than  the  others.  Hence 
that  one  is  envied  and  hated  by  those  who  are  nearest  to 
him  in  blood,  just  as  Joseph  was  hated  by  his  brethren, 
because  they  saw  that  their  father  Jacob  loved  him  most  of 
all.  Let  none  say  that  these  little  jealousies  and  rivalries 
are  trifling  faults,  not  worthy  to  be  named  in  a  sermon.  If 
they  are  trifling  faults,  then  envy,  and  hatred,  and  malice, 
and  uncharitableness  are  trifling  faults:  for  the  jealousies 
and  rivalries  I  have  been  speaking  of  are  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  envy,  hatred,  malice,  and  uncharitableness  of 
our  nature,  shewing  themselves  in  Httle  things.  Tme,  you 
will  find  nothing  about  such  jealousies  and  rivalries  in 
Scripture.  But  you  will  find  the  same  thing  under  another 
name.  The  word  which  our  translators  used,  to  express 
evil  jealousies  and  rivalries,  is  emulations.  Turn  then  to 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  there  you  will  see  what  St. 
Paul  thinks  of  emulations,  that  is,  as  we  should  say  in 
modern  English,  of  jealousies  and  rivalries,  such  as  I  have 
been  speaking  of.  His  words  are  these  :  "  Now  the  works 
of  the  flesh  are  manifest,  hatred,  variance,  emulations." 
These  emulations  then  are  works  of  the  flesh,  and  that 
manifestly.  In  other  words,  they  so  plainly  spring  from  the 
corrupt  and  evil,  from  the  ungodly  and  selfish  principle  in 
man,  that  there  can  be  no  question  or  dispute  about  it. 
Now  observe  what  sort  of  company  the  apostle  classes 
emulations   with:    "The   works    of  the   flesh   are   these; 


THE    EVIL   EYE.  243 


adultery,  fornication,  idolatry,  hatred,  variance,  emulations, 
wrath,  strife,  seditions,  envyings,  murders,  drunkenness,*  and 
such  like."  (Gal.  v.  19-21.)  Such,  according  to  St.  Paul,  is 
the  parentage  and  lineage  of  these  emulations,  of  these 
rivalries  and  jealousies,  which  people  nowadays  think  it  no 
great  harm  to  indulge  in.  The  parent  of  these  emulations 
is  the  flesh;  for  they  are  the  works  of  the  flesh.  The 
brethren  of  emulations  are  hatred  and  variance.  The 
children  of  emulations  are  wrath  and  strife  in  families, 
seditions  in  the  state,  and  envyings  in  the  bosom  of  indi- 
viduals. That  is  to  say,  a  spirit  of  rivalry  in  families  will 
lead  to  wrath  and  strife ;  a  spirit  of  rivalry  in  kingdoms  will 
lead  to  seditions  and  disturbances.  Even  when  this  evil 
spirit  is  penned  up  within  a  single  bosom,  it  will  rankle 
there  and  fill  it  with  envy. 

Having  thus  seen  the  eflects  of  this  evil  eye,  of  this 
jealous  grudging  cast  of  mind,  first  in  the  highest,  and  then 
in  the  middle  ranks,  let  us  consider  thirdly  how  it  shows 
itself  among  the  poor.  That  they  are  liable  to  this  hateful 
disease  quite  as  much  as  others,  is  clear  from  the  parable 
whence  the  text  is  taken.  For  who  were  the  people  that 
murmured  against  the  owner  of  the  vineyard  for  being 
generous  and  bountiful  to  their  fellows,  when  he  had  only 
been  just  to  them?  Were  they  not  common  labourers,  who 
had  been  hired  to  work  for  the  day?  Day-labourers,  then, 
and  their  wives,  and  their  children,  may  all  have  an  evil  eye. 
But  as  the  parable  proves  that  the  labouring  poor  may  have 
this  evil  eye,  so  it  likewise  teaches  us  the  way  in  which  the 
evil  eye  most  frequently  shews  itself  in  them.  In  them  it 
generally  shews  itself  in  a  grudging  temper,  which  grumbles 
and  teases  itself,  because  some  good  has  been  done  to  a 
neighbour,  which  all  do  not  share  alike.  Now  this  is  truly 
the  evil  eye, — a  disorder  which,  I  fear,  is  quite  as  common 
among  the  poor  of  England  now,  as  it  can  have  been  among 


2  44  I'HE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

the  labourers  of  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  The 
chsorder  then  being  so  common  among  all  ranks,  can  we 
do  better  than  consider  how  very  evil  an  evil  and  grudging 
eye  must  be? 

And  first  among  the  evils  of  an  evil  eye  I  will  put  its 
glaring  folly.  If  a  man  got  any  good  by  grieving  at  his 
neighbour's  better  fortune,  there  might  be  some  excuse,  or 
at  least  some  worldly  wisdom  in  doing  so.  But  torment 
and  vex  yourselves  ever  so  much,  you  will  not  be  a 
iarthing  the  richer.  If  you  cried  at  your  neighbour's  good 
luck  from  morning  till  night,  you  could  not  cry  a  halfpenny 
into  your  pocket.  What  folly  then,  because  you  are  not  so 
fortunate  as  you  want  to  be,  to  make  yourselves  less  happy 
than  you  need  be  ! 

But  further,  consider  the  unreasonableness  of  this  grudg- 
ing evil  eye.  May  not  a  rich  man  be  bountiful  to  a  few, 
without  being  bountiful  to  all  ?  Even  if  he  did  not  choose 
to  be  bountiful  to  any  one,  he  would  not  be  answerable  to 
you.  To  his  God,  who,  after  entrusting  him  with  a  store 
of  good  things,  has  commanded  him  by  his  apostle  to 
give,  and  to  distribute, — to  God  the  niggardly  rich  man  is 
indeed  accountable :  and  heavy  will  his  reckoning  be. 
But  to  man  he  is  not  accountable  :  as  far  as  man  is  con- 
cerned, he  has  a  right  to  hoard  if  he  will.  Now  if  the  rich 
man  has  a  right,  so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned,  to  give  to 
none, — much  more  has  he  a  right  to  give  only  to  a  few,  and 
to  choose  who  those  few  shall  be.  Suppose  you  had  a  penny 
loaf  in  your  pocket,  and  met  four  hungry  men.  You  might, 
if  you  pleased,  divide  the  loaf  among  the  four.  But  you 
might  also  choose  to  give  it  all  to  one.  You  might  think 
within  yourself,  this  little  loaf  will  be  nothing  among  four  : 
but  it  may  stay  the  hunger  of  one.  Would  not  you  have  a 
lull  right  to  give  your  loaf  all  to  one?  and  would  not  you 
jiave  a  furtlicr  right  to  choose  which  of  the  four  you  would 


THE    EVIL    EYE.  245 


give  it  to  ?  One  might  be  older  than  the  others  ;  and  per- 
haps you  might  Hke  to  give  it  to  him.  Or  one  might  have  a 
child  at  home  ;  and  you  might  say  to  yourself,  "  That  man 
must  be  more  in  want  of  it  because  he  has  a  child  to  pro- 
vide for;  I  will  give  it  all  to  him."  Would  not  you  have  a 
right  to  do  so  ?  If  any  one  questioned  you  about  what  you 
had  done,  would  you  not  think  it  enough  to  say,  "  The  loat 
was  mine,  and  I  gave  it  as  I  thought  proper  ?  Is  not  it 
lawful  to  do  as  I  will  with  my  own  ?  "  Now  what  is  true  of 
this  loaf,  and  these  four  men,  is  true  more  or  less  of  all 
bounty.  So  long  as  a  man  gives  a  due  portion  of  his  worldly 
goods  to  the  poor  and  needy,  he  has  a  right  to  use  his  own 
judgment  as  to  the  kinds  of  distress  he  will  relieve ;  and  it 
is  most  unreasonable  in  those  who  are  passed  over,  to  com- 
plain because  they  are  not  relieved  also.  If  I  had  a  sum  of 
money  to  give  away,  and  chose  to  set  it  apart  for  the  sick, 
would  the  healthy  have  any  ground  to  grumble  ?  Or  if  I 
chose  to  set  it  apart  for  the  old,  would  the  young  have  any 
cause  to  complain  ?  Nay,  suppose  that  one  sick  person 
happened  to  be  passed  over  when  all  the  other  sick  were 
relieved,  or  that  one  old  person  was  passed  over,  when  all 
the  others  received  something,  people  might  wonder  at  the 
exception ;  but  none  would  have  a  right  to  complain.  The 
money  being  mine,  I  have  a  right,  humanly  speaking,  to 
bestow  it  as  I  think  best. 

This  brings  me  to  the  injustice  of  an  evil  eye.  Nothing 
can  be  more  unjust  than  the  complaints  one  hears  from  the 
discontented  poor  in  every  corner  of  the  land.  One  cannot 
go  east,  or  west,  or  north,  without  hearing  people  murmur- 
ing,— "  It  is  very  hard  I  should  be  left  out  of  such  a  charity ; 
I  have  quite  as  much  right  to  it  as  neighbour  such  a  one." 
The  answer  to  such  complaints  is  very  simple :  True,  you 
have  the  same  right  as  your  neighbour :  and  that  is  none  at 
all.     Alms  are  gifts ;  and  a  man  can  have  no  right  to  a  gitt. 


246  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

To  your  wages,  to  what  you  earn,  you  have  a  right :  just  as 
the  labourers  in  the  vineyard  had  a  right  to  their  penny. 
But  they  had  no  right  to  more  :  and  when  they  grumbled, 
because  the  landlord,  after  paying  them  their  penny,  did  not 
give  them  something  over,  they  were  rebuked  for  their 
envious  covetousness  and  warned  against  an  evil  eye.  Can 
anything  then  be  more  unjust,  than  being  angry  with  a  man, 
because  his  bounty  does  not  reach  to  you  ?  Nothing,  I  was 
going  to  say ;  but  on  second  thought  there  is  one  thing 
more  unjust :  the  finding  fault  with  your  neighbour,  because 
he  has  been  more  fortunate  and  more  favoured  than  you. 
Yet  how  many  do  this  !  How  many  are  bitter  against  their 
neighbours,  and  look  on  them  with  an  evil  eye,  because  the 
overflowings  of  a  rich  man's  bounty  happen  to  run  toward 
them  !  The  likelihood  is,  that  they  are  in  some  way  or 
other  more  deserving,  either  as  being  more  in  want,  or  better 
behaved  :  for  the  worst  are  always  the  chief  grumblers.  But 
even  if  they  are  not  more  deserving,  still  the  question  in  the 
parable  returns  :  May  I  not  do  what  I  will  with  my  own  ? 
May  I  not  give  to  this  family  if  I  please,  without  giving  to 
you  also  ? 

All  however  that  I  have  said  hitherto  against  an  evil 
eye, — its  folly,  its  unreasonableness,  and  its  injustice, — all 
this  is  a  mere  nothing  compared  with  its  unchristian  wicked- 
ness. We  Christians  have  a  Master  to  obey.  He  has  given 
us  a  law ;  and  we  should  follow  it.  He  offers  us  his  Spirit : 
and  we  should  seek  it.  Now  the  great  principle  of  the 
christian  law,  the  prime  fruit  of  the  christian  spirit,  is  love. 
This  spirit  you  must  have;  and  its  fruits  you  must  have; 
else  you  are  none  of  Christ's.  "  If  any  man  have  not  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his."  (Rom.  viii.  9.)  But  how 
can  you  flatter  yourselves  that  you  have  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
if  you  have  so  little  love  for  your  neighbour,  as  not  even  to 
rejoice  when  good  befalls  him  ?  The  Scripture  rule  is,  "  Love 


THE    EVIL    EYE. 


247 


your  neighbour  as  yourself."  Do  you  rejoice  when  good 
happens  to  yourself?  By  that  rule  you  ought  to  rejoice 
when  good  happens  to  your  neighbour.  A  good  man  rejoices 
whenever  good  is  done.  If  it  be  done  to  himself,  he  thanks 
God  for  it :  and  if  it  be  not  done  to  himself,  still  he  thanks 
God  for  it;  because  somebody  at  all  events  is  better  off, 
somebody  is  less  wretched,  less  hungry,  less  naked,  less 
comfortless  to-day  than  yesterday.  Is  not  this  a  reasonable, 
an  amiable,  a  christian  motive  for  rejoicing  ?  Is  not  it  on 
the  other  hand  an  unreasonable  and  hateful,  and  even 
devilish  motive  for  repining  ?  God  at  the  beginning  made 
all  things  good :  and  the  nearer  they  are  brought  back  to 
that  original  good,  the  more  the  children  of  God  rejoice. 
On  the  other  hand  the  devil  brought  evil  into  the  world : 
he  brought  upon  earth  the  evil  of  sin,  out  of  which  all  other 
ills  take  their  rise.  Just  then  as  it  belongs  to  the  sons  of 
God  to  rejoice  that  good  is  done,  so  it  belongs  to  the 
children  of  the  Evil  One  to  grieve  when  good  is  done. 
Choose  ye  then,  whose  children  ye  will  be, — the  children  of 
God,  or  the  children  of  the  Evil  One.  If  you  would  be  the 
children  of  God,  pray  to  him  to  give  you  a  good  eye.  If 
you  would  be  the  children  of  the  Evil  One,  go  on  indulging 
an  evil  eye.  But  remember,  you  cannot  be  a  mixture  between 
the  two.  You  cannot  have  an  evil  eye,  and  be  God's  chil- 
dren :  God's  children  must  have  a  good  eye. 

Some  however  may  perhaps  tell  me,  "  It  is  so  hard  to  be 
contented ;  above  all,  under  poverty  and  distress."  I  believe 
it :  and  therefore  I  will  conclude  by  pointing,  out  a  way  in 
which  you  may  all  be  discontented  without  offence.  If  you 
must  be  discontented,  let  it  be  at  your  lack  of  godliness. 
There  is  no  treasure  half  so  precious,  none  half  so  lasting  ; 
there  is  none,  above  all,  whereof  an  evil-eyed  and  discon- 
tented person  stands  half  so  much  in  need.  So,  if  you  must 
be  covetous,  let  it  be  according  to  the  covetousness  which 


24S  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

St  Paul  recommends.  Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,  espe- 
cially the  excellent  gift  of  christian  charity,  which  will  enable 
you  to  look  on  your  neighbour  as  a  part  and  portion  of 
yourself.  This  is  the  crown  and  perfection  of  the  christian 
spirit :  and  there  is  no  attaining  to  it,  except  by  conquering 
and  killing  self.  Se//,  remember,  was  the  worst  seed  in 
Adam's  apple.  Toward  God  it  is  self-will,  which  is  rebel- 
lion :  toward  man  it  is  self-love,  which  is  hard-heartedness. 
It  was  to  root  out  this  evil  self  from  us,  and  to  put  in  love 
in  its  room,  that  Christ  died,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  comes. 
Let  not  that  death  and  that  coming  be  in  vain  for  you.  But 
covet,  since  you  must  covet,  with  a  godly  covetousness ;  and 
cease  not  to  complain,  cease  not  to  cry  out,  weary  the  ears 
of  God  with  prayer,  until  he  frees  you  from  all  selfishness, 
and  from  that  worst  mark  of  it,  a  grudging  and  evil  eye. 


XXI. 
A  CONSCIENCE  VOID   OF   OFFENCE; 

OR, 

THE  CHRISTIAN  ON  HIS  TRIAL. 

Acts  xxiv.  i6. 

Herein  I  do  exercise  myself,  to  have  always  a  conscience 
void  of  offence  toward  God  and  toward  men. 

nPHESE  words  were  spoken  by  St.  Paul,  when  he  was 
-■■  standing  before  Felix,  the  Roman  governor,  to  answer  the 
charges  brought  against  him  by  the  Jews.  Seldom  has  there 
been  a  struggle,  which  to  human  eyes  must  have  seemed 
more  unequal,  than  that  which  took  place  on  that  day  before 
the  tribunal  of  Felix.  On  the  one  side  were  ranged  the 
whole  nation  of  the  Jews,  represented  by  their  high  priest 
and  elders,  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  one  man,  and  bringing 
charge  after  charge  against  him,  by  the  mouth  of  a  practised 
counsellor,  who  had  doubtless  been  trained  in  pleading 
causes,  and  was  skilled  in  all  the  niceties  of  the  law.  Such 
was  the  force  arrayed  against  Paul, — a  whole  nation,  all  his 
countrymen,  coming  forward  in  the  persons  of  the  rulers  of 
their  church,  and  with  a  counsellor  able  to  turn  tlie  balance 
of  the  law  to  his  prejudice.  And  what  was  on  Paul's  side  ? 
So  far  as  men's  eyes  could  see,  only  Paul  himself.  To  all 
appearance  he  stood  alone,  without  a  lawyer  to  plead  for 


250 


THE   ALTON   SERMONS. 


him,  without  a  friend  of  any  kind  to  take  his  part,  or  even 
to  cheer  him  with  a  look  betokening  interest  in  his  behalf. 
But  was  this  really  the  case  ?  was  Paul  indeed  alone  ?  No  : 
lie  was  enabled  to  say  as  his  Master  had  said  before  him,  ''I 
am  not  alone,  but  I  and  the  Father  that  sent  me."  (John  viii. 
16.)  The  Father  was  indeed  with  him.  Could  the  eyes  of 
the  people  present  have  been  opened  to  see  the  things  of 
the  unseen  world,  how  different  would  the  trial  have  appeared 
to  them  !  It  still  would  have  been  most  unequal :  but  the 
first  would  have  become  last,  and  the  last  would  have 
become  first.  They  would  have  seen  at  once  that  the  host 
of  accusers  had  no  chance  of  carrying  their  point  against 
the  apostle.  They  would  have  seen  that  all  the  superiority, 
all  the  strength,  all  the  certainty  of  success  lay  on  the  side 
of  the  one  poor  prisoner  Paul.  For  they  would  have  seen 
that,  poor  and  friendless  as  he  was  to  outward  show,  he  had 
God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  with  him.  With  these  to  aid 
him,  what  has  anybody  to  fear?  How  can  he  fear  man, 
whose  breath  is  in  his  nostrils,  when  his  help  is  in  the 
living  God  ? 

But  some  of  you  may  perhaps  say,  "  Be  it  so :  let  the 
advantage  have  been  on  the  side  of  the  Jews,  or  on  St. 
Paul's  side ;  how  does  this  concern  us  ?  what  practical  les- 
son are  we  to  draw  from  it?"  My  friends,  it  concerns  us 
very  nearly ;  and  we  may  draw  a  very  wholesome  lesson 
from  it,  if  we  only  make  allowance  for  the  difference  of 
circumstances  between  our  days  and  St.  Paul's.  We  are 
none  of  us,  God  be  praised !  likely  to  be  brought  to  trial 
before  a  heathen  governor  for  believing  in  Jesus  Christ. 
This  was  Paul's  trial.  It  was  the  trial  of  many  holy  men 
besides  in  those  days  of  fierce  persecution,  when  almost  all 
the  rule  and  authority  of  this  world  was  in  the  hands  of 
idolaters.  But  it  is  not  likely  to  be  our  trial :  because  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world  have  since  become,  at  least  in  name, 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ON    HIS    TRIAL.  25 1 

the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  his  Christ.  But  though  we 
have  not  the  same  kind  of  trial  that  Paul  had,  are  not 
Christians  even  in  these  times  tried  in  divers  ways  ?  P'or 
instance,  are  we  not  all  on  our  trial  before  a  world  which 
has  no  higher  law,  nor  more  certain  judgment,  no  purer 
righteousness,  than  that  of  heathen  morality  ?  and  are  there 
not  many  ever  ready  to  start  up  and  accuse  the  faithful 
servant  of  Christ  ?  Is  he  not  liable  to  be  laughed  at  for 
doing  and  saying  what  he  believes  and  knows  to  be  his 
duty  ?  Is  he  not  liable  to  fall  into  the  company  of  such 
as  care  not  for  Christ,  and  will  mock  and  scoff  at  those  who 
do  ?  Is  he  not  liable  to  be  exclaimed  against  as  over-pre- 
cise and  foohshly  scrupulous,  for  doing  what  he  knows  he 
ought  to  do,  and  for  not  doing  what  he  knows  he  ought  not 
to  do?  These  then  are  among  his  trials.  When  any  of 
these  trials  happens  to  any  of  us,  we  shall  do  well  to  think  of 
Paul  standing  alone  before  Felix,  and  to  endeavour  to  act 
as  wisely,  as  bravely,  as  much  like  a  true  Christian  as 
he  did.  The  strength,  the  power,  the  numbers  of  this 
world  may  indeed  seem  to  be  against  us ;  we  may  be  two  or 
three  against  a  swarm :  but  if  we  are  standing  up  in  behalf 
of  any  the  least  of  Christ's  commandments,  the  real  strength, 
the  real  power,  the  superiority  of  every  sort  will  be  on  our 
side.  For  remember,  God  is  not  dead  :  he  is  not  changed  : 
he  is  the  living  and  eternal  God,  the  same  to-day  that  he 
was  yesterday,  the  same  two  thousand  years  hence,  that  he 
was  two  thousand  years  ago.  If  he  watched  over  his  ser- 
vant Paul,  when  brought  into  jeopardy  for  the  sake  ot 
Christ,  in  like  manner  will  he  watch  over  you,  if  you  are  at 
any  time  brought  into  jeopardy  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  I 
do  not  say  that  you  will  escape  from  the  contest  without  a 
wound.  Christ's  soldiers  must  expect  to  be  wounded  :  they 
must  expect  in  days  of  persecution  to  have  their  human 
bodies  wounded :  they  must  expect  to  have  their  earthly 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


feelings  wounded  in  days  of  irreligious  mockers.  Christ's 
soldiers  may  be  wounded,  and  will  be  wounded.  This  is 
the  way  that  God  takes  to  exercise  our  patience,  and  to 
mortify  and  kill  the  proud  flesh,  which  naturally  grows  up 
around  the  heart.  But  though  Christ's  soldiers  may  be 
wounded,  they  cannot  be  slain;  for  they  that  believe  in 
Christ,  and  love  him,  and  serve  him  faithfully,  even  though 
they  die,  yet  shall  they  live.  As  to  being  conquered,  how 
can  they  be  conquered,  when  God  has  promised  them  the 
victory  for  the  sake  of  his  beloved  Son  ? 

In  order  however  that,  when  we  are  brought  to  trial  in 
any  way-  before  the  world,  on  account  of  our  christian  faith 
or  practice,  we  may  be  enabled  to  meet  our  accusers  as 
fearlessly  as  Paul  met  his,  we  must  prepare  ourselves  against 
such  trials,  as  Paul  did,  by  exercising  ourselves  to  have  a 
conscience  void  of  offence  both  toward  God  and  toward 
man.  The  accusation  which  the  Jews  brought  against  Paul 
by  the  mouth  of  their  spokesman,  Tertullus,  may  be  divided 
into  three  charges.  In  the  first  place  they  charged  him  with 
being  a  "  mover  of  sedition,"  or  a  disturber  of  the  pubUc 
peace,  "  among  all  the  Jews  throughout  the  world."  Their 
next  charge  was,  that  he  "  was  a  ringleader  of  the  sect  of 
Xazarenes,"  in  other  words,  one  of  the  chief  preachers  of 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Lastly,  they  charged  him 
with  having  gone  about  to  profane  the  temple.  Now  what 
answer  does  Paul  give  to  these  three  charges  ?  To  the  first 
charge,  that  he  was  a  stirrer  of  sedition  among  the  Jews,  he 
answers,  that  after  an  absence  of  many  years,  he  had  come 
a  few  days  before  to  Jerusalem  to  bring  alms  and  offerings 
to  his  countrymen  ;  and  that,  during  his  stay  there,  he  had 
never  been  found  haranguing  or  exciting  the  people,  either 
in  the  temple,  or  in  any  of  the  synagogues,  or  in  any  other 
part  of  the  city.  The  second  charge,  that  he  was  a  ring- 
leader of  the  Nazarencs,  he  does  not  deny.     For  the  being 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ON    HIS    TRIAL. 


a  Nazarene,  or  a  believer  in  Christ,  was  not  then  a  crime 
by  the  Roman  law.  On  the  contrar}^  he  confesses  that  he 
worships  the  God  of  his  fathers,  according  to  the  way  which 
they  chose  to  call  a  heresy,  believing  all  the  things  written  in 
the  law  and  in  the  prophets,  trusting  in  God,  as  his  accusers 
themselves  did,  that  there  would  be  a  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  "  Meantime  (he  says),  while  I  am  looking  forward  to 
this  resurrection,  I  exercise  myself,  I  take  all  pains  and  give 
all  diligence,  that  I  may  in  all  things  have  a  conscience 
void  of  offence  both  toward  God  and  toward  man."  As  to 
the  third  charge,  that  of  having  profaned  the  temple,  Paul 
says,  "  So  far  is  that  charge  from  the  truth,  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, I  had  just  been  purifying  myself  in  the  temple, 
according  to  the  ordinances  of  the  Mosaic  law,  quietly, 
without  any  crowd  or  disturbance."  He  then  winds  up  his 
defence  with  this  honest  and  confident  appeal  to  his 
accusers  :  "  Let  them  declare  if  they  found  any  evil  doing 
in  me,  when  I  was  examined  before  the  council ;  unless 
indeed  it  was  an  offence  to  exclaim,  that  I  was  called  in 
question  touching  the  resuirection  of  the  dead." 

In  this  way  did  St.  Paul  call  on  his  accusers  themselves 
to  bear  witness  to  the  innocency  of  his  life.  He  challenges 
them  to  bring  forv/ard  a  single  unlawful  act  that  he  had 
committed,  unless  it  was  unlawful  to  say  that  he  was  accused 
touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Thus  on  the  strength 
of  his  innocence  was  he,  a  single  man,  enabled  to  stand  his 
ground  against  a  host  of  powerful  and  bloodthirsty  accusers. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  our  heavenly  Father,  even  when  he 
does  not  specially  interpose  in  behalf  of  his  servants,  by 
openly  taking  their  part,  and  working  a  miracle  to  preserve 
them,  still  often  vouchsafes  to  assist  them.  No  miracle  was 
wrought  to  save  Paul  :  the  trial  went  on  like  any  other 
trial :  yet  Paul  was  not  condemned.  For  God  had  given 
him  a  mouth  and  a  wisdom,  which  his  enemies  could  neiilicr 


2  54  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

gainsay  nor  condemn.  His  mouth  was  not  the  mouth  of 
human  eloquence  ;  nor  was  his  wisdom,  the  studied  wisdom 
of  human  schools.  His  wisdom  was  the  wisdom  of  plain 
truth  :  his  mouth  was  the  mouth  of  blameless  innocence. 
These  were  his  weapons  :  and  they  were  sufficient  to  defend 
him,  single  as  he  was,  against  a  host  of  powerful  accusers. 

Now  we  too,  my  brethren,  as  I  said  above, — we  too,  if  we 
are  faithful  and  diligent  servants  of  our  Lord  and  Master, 
Christ,  are  on  our  trial.  Every  Christian  is  on  his  trial 
before  a  godless  world,  just  as  Paul  was  before  the  heathen 
governor.  There  are  many  persons,  who  neither  love  reli- 
gion, nor  hate  it.  Like  Gallio,  they  care  for  none  of  these 
things :  they  do  not  trouble  their  heads  about  the  matter. 
But  they  do  not  like  that  others  should  be  better  than  they 
are.  Therefore  every  story  which  can  throw  discredit  on  the 
piety,  or  on  the  understanding,  of  a  religious  neighbour, — 
every  story  which  sets  him  in  a  blamable  or  laughable  point 
of  view, — every  such  story  is  sure  to  be  favourably  received 
by  them,  and  to  meet  with  a  ready  hearing.  It  is  before 
persons  of  this  worldly,  careless,  godless  spirit,  that  the 
servants  of  Christ  are  ever  standing  a  severe  trial. 

Again  there  are  others,  who,  to  judge  by  their  bitter  way 
of  speaking,  positively  disHke,  and  seem  almost  to  hate 
such  as  are  in  earnest  about  worshipping  and  serving  God. 
They  are  never  so  happy  as  when  bringing  accusations 
against  them,  when  picking  holes  in  their  characters,  and 
holding  them  up  to  scorn  and  reproach.  If  they  can  find  a 
fair-seeming  plea  for  taxing  one  religious  person  with  insin- 
cerity, a  second  with  being  weak  and  foolish,  a  third  with 
absurdity  and  affectation,  a  fourth  with  hastiness  ot  speech, 
or  sharpness,  sourness,  or  gloominess  of  temper,  they  seem 
quite  to  rejoice  in  sitting  down  to  such  a  rich  feast  of  envy, 
hatred,  malice,  and  uncharitableness  ;  and  their  only 
anxiety  is,  to  get  a  number  of  their  neighbours  to  partalcQ 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ON    HIS    TRIAL.  255 

of  it.  These  bitter  fiamers  and  spreaders  of  railing  accu- 
sations against  their  more  reHgious  brethren  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  Jewish  accusers  of  Paul :  while  the  other  class 
of  careless  worldly-minded  persons,  who  give  ear  to  those 
accusations,  may  be  compared  to  the  Roman  governors 
before  whom  he  was  tried. 

Thus  we  see,  the  Christian  is  on  his  trial  before  the 
world.  The  bitterly  irreligious  are  his  accusers :  the  indo- 
lently, carelessly  irreligious,  who  make  up  the  great  bulk  of 
mankind,  are  his  judges.  How  then  is  he  to  defend  him- 
self on  this  trial  ?  He  must  endeavour  to  defend  himself  as 
Paul  did,  by  the  wisdom  of  truth,  and  by  innocency  of  life. 
No  other  defence  will  be  of  avail.  Accordingly  this  is  the 
advice  which  St.  Peter  gives  to  the  first  Christians.  He 
tells  them  (i.  ii.  15)  with  well-doing  to  put  to  silence  the 
ignorance  of  foolish  men.  And  again  (iii.  16)  he  exhorts 
them  to  have  a  good  conscience, — that  is,  in  St.  Paul's  words, 
a  conscience  void  of  offence,  toward  God  and  toward  men, 
— "  that  whereas  they  speak  evil  of  you  as  of  evil-doers, 
they  may  be  ashamed,  that  falsely  accuse  your  good  conver- 
sation in  Christ."  And  again  (ii.  12)  he  says  to  them, 
"  Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts  that  war  against  the  soul,  having 
your  conversation  honest  among  the  Gentiles,  that,  whereas 
they  speak  against  you  as  evil-doers,  they  may,  through 
your  good  works,  which  they  shall  behold,  glorify  God  in 
the  day  of  visitation." 

This  is  just  what  St.  Paul  did.  He  not  only  put  to 
silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men,  and  the  malice  of 
wicked  and  cruel  men ;  but  by  his  diligence,  his  zeal,  the 
strength  of  his  faith,  and  the  purity  of  his  life,  he  converted 
numbers  of  the  Gentiles,  founded  many  churches  among 
them,  and  led  them  to  glorify  God.  Even  P'elix,  the 
Roman  governor,  was  so  struck  by  what  he  saw  and  heard, 
that  after  the  trial  was  over,  he  sent  for  Paul  privately,  that 


256  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


he  might  hear  him  speak  of  Christ  and  his  doctrine.  And 
who  knows  but  that  we  too, — if  we  exercised  ourselves,  like 
St.  Paul,  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of  offence  both  toward 
God  and  man, — might  be  the  blessed  means  of  awakening 
some  relation,  some  friend,  some  neighbour,  or  even  some 
enemy,  to  take  more  thought  about  God,  and  to  set  a  higher 
price  on  heavenly  things,  than  he  has  hitherto  been  wont 
to  do  ?  ''  Cast  your  bread  upon  the  waters  (says  the 
Preacher) ;  for  thou  shalt  find  it  after  many  days."  (Eccl. 
xi.  I.)  "Blessed  (says  the  prophet)  are  they  that  sow 
beside  all  waters."  (Isaiah,  xxxii.  20.)  We  are  to  sow,  you 
see,  beside  all  waters.  And  what  are  we  to  sow  ?  We  are 
to  sow  the  good  seed.  A  word  in  season,  for  instance, — 
that  is  good  seed.  A  kind  action,  or  a  mild  answer, — that 
again  is  good  seed.  But  the  best  and  most  fruitful  seed  of 
all  is  the  quiet  example  of  a  holy  and  godly  life.  Sow  that 
seed  then  beside  all  waters.  AVhithersoever  you  go,  what- 
ever you  do,  in  your  hours  of  work,  in  seasons  of  business, 
in  times  of  leisure,  at  home  with  your  families,  abroad 
among  strangers,  in  all  your  goings,  and  all  your  doings, 
leave  behind  you  the  trace  of  a  good  example  :  sliew  by 
your  life  that  you  believe  in  Christ ;  live  according  to  your 
belief;  let  people  see  that  herein  you  exercise  yourselves,  to 
have  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  not  only  toward  God, 
but  also  toward  man,  nor  only  toward  man,  but  also  toward 
God.  You  must  serve  them  both  :  you  must  do  your  duty 
to  both :  you  must  love  both.  You  must  love  and  serve 
God  for  his  own  sake  :  you  must  love  and  do  your  duty 
to  man  for  God's  sake  ; — because  God  has  commanded  it, 
— because  you  are  all  children  of  the  same  Father, — because 
you  arc  all  bought  with  the  same  price — because  you  are  all 
fellow-servants  of  the  same  Saviour. 

This  is  what  St.  Paul  did,  when  he  exercised  himself  to 
have  a  conscience  void  of  offence.     Do  you  suppose  that 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ON    HIS   TRIAL. 


257 


he  is  sorry  now  for  having  thus  exercised  himself  ?  Do  you 
suppose  that  he  wishes  now  he  had  not  exercised  himself  so 
much  ?  that  he  wishes  he  had  not  taken  so  much  pains  to 
do  his  duty  ?  Do  you  suppose  he  grudges  the  labour  and 
self-denial  it  cost  him  during  his  life,  to  keep  himself  in  all 
things  pure  and  holy  ?  Even  in  this  world  they  who  sow 
plenteously  reap  plenteously ;  and  still  more  plenteous  is 
their  harvest  in  the  next  world.  St.  Paul  sowed  plenteously : 
he  was  in  labours  more  abundant :  and  so  there  was  laid  up 
for  him  a  crown  of  glory.  Would  we  receive  a  crown  of 
glory  like  his?  we  must  first  be  Hke  him  in  his  labours.  We 
are  not  indeed  called  upon  to  suffer  hunger  and  thirst  and 
persecution  and  nakedness,  as  he  did.  From  all  these  trials, 
so  hard  to  the  infirmity  of  our  flesh,  God  has  mercifully 
spared  us.  Nor  are  we  called  to  bear  the  brunt  of  an  accu- 
sation from  Jews,  and  of  a  trial  for  our  lives  before  heathens. 
But  we  too  have  our  trials  to  bear  and  to  stand  :  and  if  we 
bear  them  and  stand  them  as  he  did, — if  we  abound  in  faith, 
in  love,  in  long-suffering,  in  patience,  in  all  the  work  of  the 
Lord, — if  we  are  diligent  in  exercising  ourselves  as  he  did, 
to  have  a  conscience  always  void  of  offence  both  toward 
God  and  toward  man, — we  shall  find,  when  the  end  comes, 
that  God  has  not  overlooked  our  endeavours  to  serve  and 
please  him :  we  shall  find,  unworthy  as  we  are,  that  for  us 
also  has  his  goodness  laid  up  a  crown  of  reward. 


XXII. 

TREES   OF  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Isaiah  ki.  3. 
Trees  of  lighteousness,  the  planting  of  the  Lord. 

■pj^VERY  one  who  reads  his  Bible,  and  minds  what  he 
■'---'  reads,  must  know  that  it  is  a  very  common  thing  with 
the  sacred  writers  to  compare  the  growth  of  rehgion  in 
man's  heart  with  the  growth  of  trees  and  plants.  To  go  no 
farther  than  that  part  of  the  Old  Testament  which  is  oftenest 
read  in  church, — the  Book  of  Psalms, — hear  how  David 
speaks  in  the  ist  Psalm.  "Blessed  is  the  man  whose 
delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord.  He  shall  be  like  a  tree 
planted  by  the  water-side,  that  will  bring  forth  his  fruit  in 
due  season.  His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither,"  Again  in  the 
92nd  Psalm  we  read:  "The  righteous  shall  flourish  like  a 
l)alm-tree,  and  shall  spread  abroad  like  a  cedar  in  Lebanon. 
Such  as  are  planted  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  shall  flourish 
in  the  courts  of  the  house  of  our  God.  They  also  shall 
bring  forth  more  fruit  in  their  age,  and  shall  be  fat  and 
well-liking."  In  the  New  Testament,  I  scarce  need  remind 
you,  both  John  the  Baptist  and  our  Saviour  make  use  of 
nearly  the  same  image,  comparing  good  men  to  good  trees, 
and  evil  men  to  coiTupt  or  rotten  trees. 

Now  in  what  are  men  like  trees?     In  what  does  the 


TREES    OF   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  259 


likeness  between  the  spiritual  and  the  vegetable  Hfe  lie? 
For  unless  there  be  some  such  strong  and  striking  likeness, 
the  passages  I  have  quoted  are  words  with  little  more  than 
a  shadow  of  meaning  ?  Why,  in  a  word,  are  God's  people 
called  in  the  text,  "  trees  of  righteousness,  the  planting  of 
the  Lord?" 

Now  you  must  not  fancy,  as  some  may  be  apt  to  do,  that 
the  sacred  writers  use  images  of  this  kind  merely  for  the 
sake  of  ornament,  from  a  fondness  for  sticking  flowers  here 
and  there  in  their  pages.  These  images,  if  we  take  them 
rightly,  are  so  many  short  parables  ;  they  are  brought  in  to 
rouse  our  attention,  to  awaken  our  fancy,  to  set  us  a-think- 
ing,  and  to  fix  the  truth  more  deeply  in  our  memories 
by  their  sharp  and  pointed  manner  of  putting  it.  You 
know  how  much  more  easily  children  are  taught  a  thing  by 
the  help  of  pictures  than  by  mere  naked  words.  This  is 
just  the  way  God  takes  to  teach  his  children  in  the  Bible. 
When  he  compares  the  wicked  to  grass,  which  to-day  is 
green,  and  to-morrow  is  withered, — when  he  compares  the 
righteous  to  a  flourishing  and  deep-rooted  tree, — he  speaks 
pictures  to  us. 

Here  let  me  point  out  to  you  the  great  advantage  which 
country-people  in  this  respect  have  over  others,  toward  the 
understanding  of  God's  word.  The  images,  or  as  I  just 
now  called  them,  the  pictures  in  the  Bible,  are  almost  all 
taken  from  country  matters.  How  should  a  person  who  has 
lived  all  his  life  in  a  town,  and  never  seen  a  sheep  sheared, 
— how  should  such  a  person  feel  the  force  of  that  beautiful 
passage  in  the  53rd  chapter  of  Isaiah,  where  our  Lord's 
behaviour  before  Pilate  is  compared  to  a  sheep  in  the 
shearer's  hands?  Town-people  may  understand  that  the 
sheep  is  dumb,  and  that  our  Saviour  was  dumb  too,  not- 
withstanding all  the  insults  cast  upon  him.  Thus  much 
tliey  certainly  may  understand,  because  the  prophet  sa}s  so. 


26o  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

But  they  cannot  have  the  same  strong  and  lively  sense  of 
the  whole  scene,  which  they  might  have  gained  by  seeing  a 
sheep  sheared.  What  is  true  of  sheep-shearing  is  equally 
true  of  the  other  country  occupations  and  sights  so  often 
referred  to  in  the  Bible.  Images  and  pictures  taken  from 
such  things  ought  to  come  home  with  more  power  to  your 
minds  than  they  can  to  the  minds  of  town-people.  So  that, 
if  the  Bible  be  the  poor  man's  book,  it  is  especially  the 
book  of  those  who  plough,  and  reap,  and  tend  flocks, — 
of  those  who  have  watched  the  growth  of  plants,  and  daily 
see  the  sun  rise  and  set,  and  are  led  to  mark  the  clouds  as 
they  journey  across  the  sky.  These  are  the  sights  in  the 
midst  of  which  you  have  grown  up :  and  these  are  the  very 
images  which  the  Bible  is  wont  to  use  for  the  sake  of  giving 
us  a  sense  of  spiritual  things.  Instead  therefore  of  com- 
plaining that  you  are  unlearned,  and  making  your  want  of 
knowledge  an  excuse,  as  too  many  do,  for  not  studying  their 
Bible,  you  should  rather  say  to  yourselves,  "  God,  though 
he  has  withheld  many  advantages  and  opportunities  from 
me,  has  given  me  one  advantage,  and  that  a  great  one  :  he 
has  cast  my  lot  in  the  country ;  so  that  from  my  childhood 
upward  I  have  been  accustomed  to  see  many  of  the  things 
which  the  Bible  speaks  of  the  oftenest.  Let  me  make  the 
more  use  of  this  advantage,  because  it  is  my  only  one.  Let 
me  strive  to  find  out  and  keep  in  mind  the  meaning  of  the 
images  and  pictures  in  God's  book.  When  I  see  a  flock  of 
sheep,  let  me  think  of  the  good  Shepherd.  Wlien  I  see 
a  man  plougliing,  let  me  remember  the  sufferings  of  my 
Saviour,  how  '  the  ploughers  ploughed  upon  his  back,  and 
made  long  furrows.*  (Psalm  cxxix.  3.)  In  this  way  let  me 
try  to  make  all  I  see,  and  all  I  do,  minister  to  the  under- 
standing of  tlic  word  of  God  ;  praying  earnestly  to  God  that 
he  will  show  me  the  true  spiritual  meaning  of  his  pictures, 
and  beseeching  him  to  give  me  grace,   that,  the   more  I 


TREES   OF   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  26 1 


know  of  his  grace,  and  of  his  plan  for  our  salvation,  the 
more  thankful  I  may  be  for  it, — the  more  I  know  of  his 
law,  the  more  anxious  I  may  be  to  keep  it." 

Having  thus  shown  you  the  purposes  intended  to  be 
answered  by  these  images  and  pictures,  which  the  Bible  so 
often  uses,  I  shall  go  back  to  the  picture  set  before  us  in 
the  text :  why  are  God's  people  called  "  trees  of  righteous- 
ness ?  " 

In  the  first  place,  they  are  so  called  for  the  reason  given 
in  the  text,  because  they  are  "the  planting  of  the  Lord." 
Godliness  is  not  a  thing  which  any  craft  of  man  can  fashion. 
A  man  can  no  more  make  himself  godly,  than  he  can  make 
a  tree,  or  so  much  as  the  seed  of  a  tree.  If  he  becomes  so, 
it  must  be  the  work  of  God.  It  was  the  word  of  God,  that 
in  the  beginning  made  "  the  earth  bring  forth  the  tree 
yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  was  in  itself:  "  and  it  is  from  the 
seeds  of  the  forest  which  the  earth  brought  forth  in  the  days 
when  God  made  heaven  and  earth, — it  is  from  the  seeds  of 
those  first  and  earliest  trees,  that  all  other  trees  have  arisen. 
Some  of  these  have  sown  themselves,  as  it  were.  They 
have  sprung  up,  and  grown,  and  come  to  their  full  stature, 
without  any  help  from  man.  Others  have  been  sown  by 
man :  and  these  too  have  grown  up  in  time  to  be  trees,  and 
have  flourished,  and  been  strong  and  beautiful.  So  is  it 
with  the  trees  of  righteousness.  When  God  gave  his  blessed 
word  to  man,  he  gave  it  to  be  full  of  seeds.  For  so  it  is 
written  :  "  The  seed  is  the  word  of  God."  If  this  seed  be 
duly  sown  in  the  heart, — it  matters  not  by  what  means, — 
let  it  only  be  sown ;  and  if  it  neither  be  choked  by  thorns, 
nor  burnt  up  by  the  heat,  nor  killed  by  the  frost,  the  plant 
thus  sown,  if  God  watches  over  it  and  prospers  it,  will  grow 
up  to  be  a  tree  of  righteousness. 

It  matters  not,  I  say,  by  what  means  the  word  is  sown. 
The  means  are  manifold :  for  the  Lord  worketh  diverselv. 


262  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Sometimes  the  seed  is  sown  in  early  childhood  by  godly 
parents :  and  happy  is  it  for  those  children  in  whom  the 
seed  is  thus  sown.  Sometimes  it  is  self-sown,  as  it  were, 
while  we  are  reading  or  listening  to  the  Scriptures.  Some- 
times it  is  sown  by  what  may  justly  be  called  an  act  of  more 
special  providence :  as  when  a  passage  in  a  book,  taken  up 
perhaps  for  amusement,  finds  its  way  to  our  heart,  and 
drops  some  good  seed  into  it.  But  oftener  it  is  sown  by 
the  voice  of  the  preacher,  or  by  the  counsel  of  some  true 
friend.  Here  is  a  great  variety  of  methods,  by  every  one  of 
which,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  the  seeds  of  divine  truth 
have  been  planted  over  and  over  again,  and  to  such  good 
purpose  as  to  grow  up  into  trees  of  righteousness. 

But  some  may  ask, — if  the  seed  can  be  sown  by  godly 
parents,  and  by  christian  ministers,  how  can  it  be  said  of 
such  trees,  that  they  are  the  Lord's  planting  ?  I  answer  in 
the  words  of  St.  Paul :  "  I  have  planted ;  Apollos  watered ; 
but  God  gave  the  increase.  So  then  neither  is  he  that 
planteth  anything,  nor  he  that  watereth ;  but  God,  that 
giveth  the  increase."  (i  Cor.  iii.  6,  7.)  In  every  case  the 
trees  of  righteousness  must  be  of  God's  planting.  But  God 
is  pleased,  as  we  have  seen,  to  plant  in  divers  ways, — some- 
times by  an  act  of  special  providence  to  awaken  us  to  a 
sense  of  his  ever-watchful  power, — at  other  times,  and  more 
frequently,  by  the  preaching  and  teaching  of  the  ministers 
wliom  he  has  set  to  take  care  of  his  people.  Nevertheless, 
even  though  it  were  Paul  himself  that  planted,  the  work 
would  still  be  God's  :  to  whom  alone  be  therefore  ascribed 
the  glory  of  our  merciful  planting  into  life.  Even  when 
God  is  pleased  to  honour  his  servants,  by  making  them  his 
instruments  in  planting,  they  can  only  at  the  utmost  sow 
seeds,  the  growth  of  which  must  be  from  God. 

Growth  then  is  a  second  point  of  likeness  between  trees 
and  godliness  ;   which  makes  it  proper  to  call  the  righteous 


TREES    OF    RIGHTEOUSNESS.  263 

"  trees  of  righteousness."  Without  the  sun  and  air  and  rain, 
where  would  be  the  growth  of  the  tree  ?  Without  the  hght 
and  the  purifying  breath  and  the  dew  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
where  would  be  the  growth  of  the  Christian  ?  In  this  point 
above  all  does  man  feel  his  utter  weakness.  He  can  plant 
indeed  after  a  fashion,  or  try  to  plant :  he  can  put  the  seed 
into  the  ground  and  into  the  mind  :  he  can  bind  line  upon 
line,  and  precept  upon  precept :  but  can  he  make  the  seed 
grow  ?  AVill  the  line  of  duty  keep  a  man  straight  ?  will  the 
precept  curb  even  his  outward  conduct  ?  much  more,  will  it 
tame  and  govern  his  heart  ?  Alas !  these*  are  things  far 
beyond  the  power  of  human  teaching.  It  is  God,  and  God 
alone,  who  giveth  the  growth  and  increase. 

But  if  this  be  so,  if  the  growth  and  increase  be  thus 
entirely  the  gift  of  God,  what  is  left  for  man  to  do  toward 
working  out  his  salvation  ?  I  answer,  it  is  left  for  man  to 
pray.  Here  we  have  a  strong  motive  for  hearty  prayer  :  for 
God  has  promised  his  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him.  Do  any 
of  you  wish  for  the  help  of  that  Spirit,  without  which  you 
cannot  grow  up  into  trees  of  righteousness  ?  Ask  for  it,  and 
you  shall  have  it.  God  is  not  a  grudging  giver:  he  delights 
to  give  bountifully.  See  how  he  deals  with  the  plants  of 
the  field.  How  rarely  does  he  withhold  his  rain  from  them ! 
And  shall  he  not  much  more  pour  out  the  influences  of  his 
Spirit  upon  those  souls  of  immortal  birth,  that  yearn  to  be 
reunited  with  him  in  Christ  ?  Shall  he  not,  when  he  has 
promised  so  to  do  ?  Bear  in  mind  however  :  the  promise  is 
only  to  them  that  ask  him.  If  any  one  neglects  to  ask 
heartily  and  pressingly,  the  promise  reaches  not  to  him. 

Nor  is  prayer  the  only  thing  left  us  to  do.  The  Bible, 
though  it  teaches  us  to  be  humble-minded,  is  no  encourager 
of  sloth.  While  it  would  have  us  on  the  one  hand  look  to 
God  for  everything,  Kke  children  who  know  that  their  food 
and  clothing  are  the  gifts  of  a  good  and  loving  father  ;  on 


264  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

the  Other  hand  it  would  have  us  work  out  our  salvadon  as 
carefully  and  diligently  as  if  everything  depended  on  our- 
selves. And  do  we  not  deal  thus  in  worldly  matters? 
Every  one  knows  that  without  rain  the  trees  will  not  grow, 
that  without  sun  the  fruits  will  not  ripen.  Every  one  knows 
too  that  he  cannot  make  the  rain  fall,  or  the  sun  shine,  but 
that  both  the  rain  and  the  sunshine  are  the  gifts  of  God 
most  high.  Yet  who  was  ever  hindered  by  knowing  this 
from  doing  his  best  to  improve  his  orchard,  trusting  in  God 
to  bless  his  labours.  So  it  is  with  the  spiritual  orchard.  It 
needs  rain  and  sunshine :  therefore  we  must  pray  for  the 
rain  and  sunshine  from  above.  But  it  also  needs  to  be 
manured  :  therefore  we  must  seek  manure  for  it  in  the  con- 
stant study  of  God's  word,  and  in  diligent  attendance  on  the 
ordinances  of  his  Church.  Nor  is  it  enough  to  enrich  the 
ground,  unless  we  also  weed  it :  in  like  manner  we  must 
regularly  weed  our  hearts  by  searching  self-examination.  He 
who  is  the  most  careful  thus  to  weed  and  manure  his  heart, 
will  be  the  first  to  feel  his  need  of  God's  help :  and  he  who 
prays  for  that  help  the  most  earnestly,  will  be  the  likeliest  to 
employ  the  grace  granted  him  to  the  purifying  and  strength- 
ening of  his  soul.  If  he  does  so  employ  it,  he  will  grow  : 
he  will  make  shoots  upward.  Christian  graces  will  sprout 
from  the  trunk  of  such  a  tree  one  after  another. 

A  third  likeness  between  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  tree 
is,  that  their  growth  is  by  degrees.  A  forest-tree  does  not 
spring  up  in  a  day,  or  in  a  month,  or  in  a  year.  Nor  do  the 
trees  of  righteousness  :  they  too  want  time  to  grow.  What 
madness  then  must  it  be  in  any  one  to  put  ofif  sowing  and 
fostering  the  good  seed  in  his  heart,  until  the  soil  becomes 
hardened  by  neglect  and  age,  and  till  no  time,  naturally 
speaking,  is  left  him  for  the  growth  of  holiness  !  Can  such 
persons  ever  hope  to  grow  up  into  trees  of  righteousness  ? 
trees  !  when  they  are  to  be  planted  in  extreme  old  age — 


TREES    OF   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  265 

perhaps  not  till  death  has  already  begun  to  lay  his  hand 
upon  them.  Gourds,  and  not  trees  of  righteousness,  would 
be  a  fitter  name  for  them  :  for  the  suddenness  of  such 
would-be  growth  reminds  one  of  the  gourd  of  the  prophet 
Jonah.  But  the  righteousness  which  is  to  spring  up  like 
Jonah's  gourd,  will  it  not,  even  if  it  does  spring  up,  perish 
also  like  Jonah's  gourd  ?  You  may  remember  that  God 
prepared  a  worm :  and  the  worm  smote  the  gourd,  that  it 
withered.  What  if  this  be  the  woful  lot  prepared  for  the 
gourds  of  righteousness !  Plant  your  tree  in  good  time  then, 
that  you  may  be  trees,  and  not  gourds,  even  such  trees  as 
David  speaks  of,  trees  whose  increase  of  fruit  keeps  pace 
with  the  increase  of  their  years. 

The  next,  and  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  point  of 
likeness  between  the  spiritual  and  vegetable  life  is  the  sap 
which  flows  through  a  healthy  tree,  and  makes  it  thrive  and 
grow.  Thus  is  it  with  the  trees  of  the  forest ;  and  thus  it 
likewise  is  with  the  trees  of  righteousness.  "  The  trees  of 
the  Lord  (we  read)  are  full  of  sap."  In  other  words,  they 
are  full  of  christian  feeHng,  which  is  the  food  and  nourish- 
ment of  christian  practice.  You  can  no  more  have  the  fruits 
of  holiness,  without  the  life-blood  of  christian  love,  than  you 
can  have  a  tree  thriving  and  growing  without  sap.  Godli- 
ness, as  I  have  already  said,  is  not  a  piece  of  handiwork, 
but  a  growth;  and  there  can  be  no  growth  without  life. 
Look  then,  brethren,  to  your  christian  life  :  look  to  your 
feelings  and  principles  :  look  to  your  hearts  ;  for  out  of  them 
are  the  issues  of  life.  Most  of  you  must  remember  the  pas- 
sage in  which  our  Saviour,  after  comparing  himself  to  the 
vine,  and  his  disciples  to  the  branches,  goes  on  thus :  "  As 
the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the 
vine,  no  more  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  me.  Without  me 
ye  can  do  nothing  :  but  he  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him, 
the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  (John  xv.  4,  5.)     Now 


266  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

what  is  meant  by  our  abiding  in  Christ  ?  which  Christ  him- 
self thus  declares  we  must,  before  we  can  bear  much  fruit. 
Thus  much,  I  think,  must  be  clear  from  the  words,  taken  in 
their  soberest  sense,  that  no  outward  conformity,  no  calling 
oneself  a  Christian,  no  cold  attendance  on  the  ceremonies 
of  religion,  can  be  called  abiding  in  Christ.  There  must  be 
a  riddance  of  that  pride  and  self-will,  which  cut  a  man  off 
from  God.  We  must  ask  of  God  to  unite  our  hearts  to  him- 
self, to  purify  our  will,  so  that  it  may  be  one  with  his  will, 
and  to  give  us  the  power  of  making  him  the  object  of  our 
daily  thoughts,  and  receiving  him  into  our  inmost  affections. 
This  is  the  only  union  with  God  which  men  can  strive  after 
or  aim  at.  Call  to  mind  our  Saviour's  parting  words  : 
"  Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you."  Abide  in  Christ,  to  use  his 
own  comparison,  as  closely  as  a  branch  abides  in  the  parent 
tree.  Take  his  will  to  be  your  will ;  take  his  affections  to 
be  your  affections ;  take  his  thoughts,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
be  your  thoughts.  Draw  the  nourishment  of  your  souls 
from  him.  Pray  that  the  sap  of  his  love  may  flow  through 
your  hearts,  and  give  you  spiritual  life  and  strength  and 
vigour  to  obey  and  serve  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  For 
this  is  the  end  the  sap  is  to  answer.  If  it  does  not  answer 
this  end,  we  might  as  well  be  without  it.  "  Herein  is  your 
Father  glorified  (says  Christ)  that  ye  bear  much  fruit." 
"  He  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  beareth 
much  fruit."  Here  is  a  sure  test  to  try  whether  our  hearts 
are  right  toward  God.  Are  we  bearing  much  fruit  ?  Because 
unless  we  are,  the  sap  of  christian  feeling  and  christian 
principle  cannot  be  flowing  through  us.  The  proof  of  the 
sap  is  the  healthiness  of  the  tree  :  the  proof  of  christian  love 
is  the  holiness  of  christian  practice.  If  our  hearts  are 
christian,  our  thoughts  and  tempers  and  daily  behaviour 
will  all  be  christian.  We  shall  be  Christians  not  in  word 
only,  but  in  deed. 


TREES    OF   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  267 

The  last  points  to  which  I  mean  to  call  your  attention, 
are  the  deep  root  and  tall  stem  of  the  tree.  The  finest 
trees  are  rooted  deep  in  earth,  and  point  in  their  up- 
rightness to  heaven.  So  too  must  we  have  our  root  of 
faith  strong  in  Christ :  so  our  hearts  must  look,  our  minds 
must  turn,  our  souls  must  rise  toward  heaven.  If  you  cut  a 
tree  off  from  its  root,  it  dies :  so  does  righteousness,  if 
severed  from  faith.  But  if  the  root  be  strong  and  healthy, 
it  will  bear  and  feed  a  healthy  and  strong  tree ;  so  must 
faith,  if  healthy  and  strong,  bear  and  feed  a  life  of  righteous- 
ness. As  the  stem  however  does  not  stand  by  its  own 
strength,  but  by  the  strength  of  the  root,  so  neither  can 
righteousness  stand  by  itself:  if  it  stands  at  all,  it  must 
stand  by  faith. 

Such  are  the  trees  of  righteousness  which  the  prophet 
speaks  of  in  the  text.  Their  planting  is  from  God's  word  ; 
their  growth  is  from  God's  Spirit ;  their  root  is  faith ;  their 
sap  is  love ;  they  are  full  of  the  fruits  of  holiness ;  they 
mount  far  above  the  earth  in  their  beautiful  uprightness : 
they  grow  and  point  toward  God.  And  shall  they  after  all 
die?  Verily  I  say  to  you,  not  one  of  them  shall  die. 
The  Psalmist  compares  them  to  the  straight  palm  and  the 
strong  cedar,  the  noblest  and  most  imperishable  of  trees. 
And  straight  indeed  are  the  truly  righteous,  in  all  their 
plans  and  all  their  ways,  straight  as  the  purest  truth  and 
the  most  self-denying  honesty  can  make  them  ;  noble  too, 
from  having  their  hearts  lifted  so  high  above  the  meanness 
which  earth  and  the  things  of  earth  are  wont  to  breed. 
As  for  being  imperishable,  how  can  they  perish  ?  they,  whom 
the  Father  loves,  for  whom  the  Son  has  died,  whose  sap  is 
the  Spirit  of  immortality.  They  shall  be  immortal  as  the 
Spirit  who  lives  in  them.  They  must  be  cut  down  indeed 
by  death  :  but  it  will  only  be  to  spring  up  again,  straighter, 
purer,  higher,  fuller  of  love,  fuller  of  holiness,  perfected 


2  68  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


through  God's  mercy,  to  be  brought  into  his  immediate  pre- 
sence. Christ  shall  bruig  them  to  his  Father,  and  say  to 
him,  "  Behold  these  are  the  trees  which  thou  hast  given  me 
of  thy  planting.  I  have  watered  them  with  my  blood :  I 
have  nourished  them  with  my  Spirit.  They  took  root,  and 
gathered  strength,  and  bore  fruit  to  thy  glory,  even  in  the 
barren  soil  of  a  corrupt  world.  Grant,  O  Father,  for  thy 
word's  sake,  and  for  thy  mercy's  sake,  that  they  may  flourish 
in  the  courts  of  thy  house."  Would  it  delight  you,  brethren, 
to  have  words  like  these  spoken  of  you  ?  Do  your  hearts 
burn  within  you  at  the  thought  of  being  the  objects  of  such 
favour,  the  heirs  of  such  glory,  the  enjoyers  of  such  heavenly 
happiness?  If  you  do  desire  all  this,  be  diligent  to  do 
your  part.  Pray  for  that  Spirit  which  must  feed  your  Hfe  : 
watch  the  seed  which  God  has  planted  :  turn  to  God  in 
early  youth,  that  you  may  have  time  to  go  on  from  strength 
to  strength.  Offer  God  a  free-will  offering  of  the  best  and 
brightest  of  your  days  :  weed  the  heart ;  prune  the  heart ; 
that  your  life  may  be  a  life  of  righteousness. 

Such  as  I  have  described,  and  no  other,  were  the  beautiful 
trees,  wherewith  Solomon  built  and  adorned  his  glorious 
temple.  Such,  and  no  other,  must  be  the  christian  souls, 
wherewith  a  greater  than  Solomon  will  build  his  spiritual 
Church,  and  adorn  the  very  courts  of  God.  As  for  the  mis- 
shapen and  crooked  and  stunted  tree,  as  for  the  fruit-tree 
which  refuses  to  bear  fruit,  as  for  the  tree  of  whatever  kind 
that  is  dead  and  sapless  at  heart, — against  that  tree  the  sen- 
tence is  gone  out :  it  was  uttered  by  Christ's  own  mouth  ; 
and  I,  as  Christ's  ambassador,  entreat  you  all  to  lay  it  to 
heart.  The  sentence  against  the  barren,  the  unimprovable 
tree  is— Cut  it  down. 


XXIII. 

HARVEST  LESSONS. 

Proverbs  x.  5. 

He  that  gathereth  in  summer  is  a  wise  son ;  but  he  that 
sleepeth  in  harvest  is  a  son  that  causeth  shame. 

T  N  my  last  sermon  I  set  before  you,  how  the  Bible  is  wont 
•*■  to  speak  of  spiritual  truths  in  images  and  figures  taken 
from  country  life  :  and  I  advised  you  to  bear  this  in  mind, 
so  that,  whether  you  ploughed  or  sowed,  whether  you  saw 
the  sun  rise  or  set,  you  might  turn  whatever  you  do,  and 
whatever  you  see,  into  food  and  matter  for  pious  thought. 
Try  (such  was  my  advice  to  you)  to  find  a  spiritual  mean- 
ing in  all  your  daily  work.  It  should  be  much  easier  for 
you  to  do  so,  than  for  people  born  and  bred  in  towns :  because 
the  Bible  says  comparatively  little  about  town  matters,  while  it 
speaks  often  and  largely  about  country  matters.  Look  out 
then  for  the  images  and  pictures  which  the  Bible  takes  from 
country  objects :  store  them  up  in  your  minds  :  and  when 
at  any  time  you  meet  with  one  of  those  objects,  say  within 
yourselves,  "This  should  remind  me  of  such  a  spiritual 
truth."  For  instance,  sheep-shearing  should  remind  you  of 
the  innocent  and  patient  Jesus,  the  Lamb  of  God;  how  in 
the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  "  he  was  brought  as  a  lamb 
to  the  slaughter,  and,  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is 


270  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth."  In  the  same  way  the 
hardness  of  the  ground  in  a  dry  season,  and  the  parched  and 
withered  state  of  all  the  herbage,  should  remind  you  of  our 
great  need  of  divine  grace  :  which  is  such,  that,  unless  God 
sends  the  rain  of  his  Spirit  on  our  hearts,  they  too  will  be 
dry  and  hard,  and  as  barren  as  the  barest  common. 

If  you  would  thus  accustom  yourselves,  with  the  help  of 
Scripture,  to  seek  for  God  and  Christ  in  everything  you  do 
and  see, — if  you  would  get  the  habit  of  looking  on  earthly 
things  as  so  many  finger-posts  and  steps  to  guide  and  raise 
you  to  the  knowledge  and  thought  of  spiritual  things, — it  is 
wonderful  what  improvement  you  would  find.  The  more 
you  tried  to  do  this,  and  the  more  you  prayed  to  God  to 
enable  you  to  do  it,  the  more  delightful  the  practice  would 
become  to  you.  You  would  feel  yourselves  brought  ever- 
more nearer  to  God  in  mind  and  thought.  You  would  per- 
ceive new  meanings  in  things.  You  would  learn  to  see 
God  everywhere.  All  your  daily  business  would  be  hallowed 
to  you ;  because  God,  or  his  Son,  or  his  Spirit,  his  goodness 
to  you,  and  your  duty  to  him,  would  be  traceable  in  every- 
thing you  do.  In  a  word,  you  would  have  God  always 
before  you ;  and  thus  your  eyes  would  be  open  to  discern 
the  wondrous  things  of  his  law. 

But  example,  they  say,  is  better  than  precept :  so  I  mean 
to  give  you  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  your  daily 
business  may  be  made  to  minister  to  the  good  of  your 
souls.  You  have  lately  been  busy  about  your  harvest ;  and 
it  is  of  harvest  that  I  am  going  to  speak  to  you. 
Now  every  attentive  reader  of  the  New  Testament,  as 
soon  as  he  hears  the  word  harvest,  will  be  reminded  of 
the  harvest,  which  our  Saviour  speaks  of  in  the  parable 
of  the  tares.  You  may  remember  that,  when  the  dis- 
ciples asked  him  to  shew  them  the  meaning  of  that 
parable,  he  said:  "The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world; 


HARVEST    LESSONS. 


27 


the  reapers  are  the  angels.  As  therefore  the  tares  are 
gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire  ;  so  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of 
the  world.  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels  ; 
and  they  shall  gather  out  them  which  do  iniquity,  and  shall 
cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire."  (Matt.  xiii.  39-42.)  Now 
if,  when  you  have  gone  out  to  your  daily  task  of  reaping  the 
corn  which  God  has  given  us,  you  had  kept  these  words  of 
our  Saviour's  well  in  mind ; — if,  every  day  that  you  left  your 
homes  to  reap,  or  to  overlook  your  reapers,  you  had  said 
within  yourselves,  "  This  present  harvest  is  certainly  of  great 
importance  to  my  worldly  interests ;  but  it  is  nothing  in 
comparison  of  the  harvest  which  is  to  come :  that  is  the 
harvest  to  look  forward  to :  that  is  the  harvest  to  prepare 
for.  God  grant  me  his  grace  that  during  this  present 
harvest  I  may  behave  as  his  child  and  servant,  that  I  may 
not  fall  into  condemnation  at  that  dreadful  harvest,  when 
angels  are  to  be  the  reapers,  and  sinners  are  to  be  treated 
like  so  many  hurtful  weeds,  which  are  fit  for  nothing  but  to 
be  burnt ;"  I  put  it  to  each  of  you,  my  brethren,  whether  it 
would  not  have  been  profitable  to  your  souls,  if  you  had 
accustomed  yourselves  through  the  present  harvest  never  to 
begin  your  morning's  work  without  some  such  seasonable 
thoughts.  Would  not  much  improper  talk  have  been  stopped 
by  it,  which  has  gone  on  not  only  among  the  men,  but  I 
fear  I  must  add,  among  the  women  also  ?  Would  not  your 
joy,  as  you  brought  the  sheaves  home,  have  been  purer  and 
gentler,  and  fuller  of  thankfulness  to  the  Lord  who  giveth 
the  increase  ?  In  a  word,  would  not  this  have  been  a  holier 
harvest  to  every  one  of  you,  if  the  thought  of  that  last 
harvest,  which  our  Saviour  speaks  of,  had  been  continually 
before  your  minds  ? 

But  though  this  harvest  at  the  end  of  the  world,  with  the 
burning  of  the  tares  and  chaff,  and  the  gathering  of  the 
good  sheaves  into  God's  barn,  which  we  are  told  shall  then 


272  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

take  place,— though  these  are  doubtless  the  first  spiritual 
truths  which  a  reader  of  his  Bible  will  think  of  when  he  is 
going  to  harvest-work,  yet  these  are  not  the  only  spiritual 
lessons  to  be  drawn  from  the  time  of  harvest.  There  are 
other  very  good  and  useful  practical  lessons  to  be  drawn 
from  that  time  besides.  Some  oi  these  practical  lessons  I 
shall  now  point  out  to  you,  in  speaking  on  the  words  which 
I  have  chosen  for  my  text :  "  He  that  gathereth  in  summer 
is  a  wise  son  :  but  he  that  sleepeth  in  harvest  causeth 
shame." 

Taking  these  words  in  their  literal  and  worldly  sense,  and 
applying  ihem  simply  to  the  corn  harvest,  their  meaning  and 
truth  are  plain  enough.  Everybody  will  understand,  that  a 
father,  who  is  old  and  past  work,  must  be  pleased  to  have 
a  son  on  his  farm  so  careful  and  active,  as  to  watch  his 
opportunities,  and  put  forth  all  his  strength  just  at  the 
right  time  for  housing  the  crop  in  the  best  condition.  Such 
a  son  would  be  a  pleasure  to  any  father.  On  the  one  hand, 
a  son  who  was  the  reverse  of  this,  a  son  who  slept,  that  is, 
who  loitered  and  idled  away  his  time  in  harvest,  a  son  who 
wasted  a  fine  day  in  going  to  a  wake  or  merrymaking, 
instead  of  loading  and  hurrying  on  the  waggons  in  his 
father's  field, — such  a  son  would  bring  shame  on  himself 
and  on  his  family,  when,  owing  to  his  sloth  and  idleness, 
the  crop  was  left  out  too  long,  and  so  got  damaged  by  a 
change  of  weather. 

The  truth  of  all  this  is  plain  :  and  if  there  had  been 
nothing  deeper  than  this  in  the  proverb,  I  should  never 
have  taken  it  for  a  text.  It  might  have  been  a  verse  for 
lads  to  get  by  heart ;  but  it  would  not  have  been  a  verse  to 
preach  on.  In  the  Bible  however  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
marks  of  some  spiritual  truth,  the  seeds  of  some  practical 
instruction,  lie  in  every  nook  and  corner.  Let  us  pierce 
then  through  this  first  and  most  literal  meaning  of  the  text. 


HARVEST    LESSONS. 


273 


Let  us  try  to  get  to  the  under  soil,  and  see  what  lesson  the 
words,  when  spiritually  interpreted,  will  give  us. 

"  He  that  gathereth  in  summer  is  a  wise  son."  Summer, 
you  know,  is  the  right  season  for  gathering  in  the  harvest. 
To  say  then  that  it  is  wise  to  gather  in  summer,  is  only 
saying  in  other  words,  that  a  wise  man  will  make  the  most 
of  his  opportunities,  and  will  gather  whatever  he  has  to 
gather  at  the  best  and  fittest  season.  Now  is  not  this  a 
practical  lesson  ?  a  lesson  too  which  many  need  ?  Is  it  not 
a  practical  lesson  for  children,  as  soon  as  they  begin  to 
learn?  Their  summer,  so  far  as  learning  is  concerned,  is 
the  time  that  they  spend  at  school.  That  time  is  just  as 
much  the  season  for  them  to  learn  in,  as  the  month  of 
August  is  the  season  for  their  fathers  to  reap  in.  The  same 
God  who  appointed  the  one  season,  has  equally  appointed 
the  other.  It  is  as  much  his  will  that  children  should  learn 
at  school,  as  that  reapers  should  reap  in  summer.  Let  every 
child  then,  who  goes  to  school,  draw  this  lesson  from  the 
text.  Let  him  say  to  himself,  "  This  is  the  time  for  me  to 
lay  up  a  litde  store  of  knowledge.  It  is  the  time  God  has 
given  me  on  purpose  that  I  may  learn  his  word.  It  is  the 
time  he  has  given  me  to  learn  prayers  and  hymns.  If  I  miss 
this  opportunity,  perhaps  I  may  never  have  another.  Let 
me  not  throw  it  away  then.  Let  me  not  be  like  the  fool 
who  sleeps  in  harvest,  or  I  shall  come  to  great  shame." 

Again,  is  it  not  a  practical  lesson  for  those  who  are  in  the 
prime  and  strength  of  life?  These  are  in  the  summer  of 
their  days,  so  far  as  practice  is  concerned.  The  seeds  of 
the  good  principles  which  were  sown  in  them  during  their 
childhood  should  now  be  springing  up  in  them,  and  ripening, 
and  bearing  fruit.  You  have  all  had  opportunities  of  learn- 
ing the  great  outlines  of  your  duty  to  God  and  man.  None 
of  you  can  be  ignorant  that  you  have  a  God  who  made  you, 
a  Redeemer  who  died  for  you,  a  Holy  Spirit  who  will  make 

T 


2 74  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


you  holy,  if  you  will  receive  him  into  your  hearts,  and  sub- 
mit to  his  guidance.  None  of  you  can  be  ignorant  that  sin 
is  exceedingly  hateful  in  God's  sight,  that  you  are  by  nature 
prone  to  sin,  that  you  have  a  continual  need  of  God's  help, 
to  keep  you  from  falling  into  some  sin  or  other,  and  that 
this  help  must  be  sought  for  by  diligent  and  hearty  prayer. 
Nor  can  any  of  you  be  ignorant  of  the  greatness  of  your 
debt  to  God  :  that  you  owe  him  everything  you  have  :  that 
every  good  thing  you  have  enjoyed  from  the  moment  of 
your  birth  till  now,  every  good  thing  you  can  hope  to  enjoy 
in  this  world  or  the  next,— all  is  a  gift,  a  free  gift  to  you  from 
God.  On  the  other  hand  you  cannot  be  ignorant  what  God 
requires  from  you  in  return  for  all  his  goodness;  that  he 
requires  every^thing, — all  your  love,  all  your  trust,  all  your 
fear,  all  your  heart,  all  your  mind,  and  all  your  soul.  Or,  to 
say  the  same  thing  more  plainly  by.  coming  down  to  particu- 
lars, you  cannot  be  ignorant  that  God  requires  you  to  pray  to 
him,  to  praise  him,  to  honour  his  name,  his  day,  his  word,  to 
take  every  opportunity  of  learning  his  will,  and  to  do  all  this 
with  a  true  heart,  out  of  love  and  thankfulness  to  him,  and  to 
his  blessed  Son  who  redeemed  us-with  his  blood.  So  too  with 
regard  to  your  duties  to  your  fellow-men,  you  must  all  know 
that  God  requires  you  to  speak  the  truth  every  one  to  his 
neighbour,  to  set  a  guard  upon  your  mouths,  to  be  careful 
that  no  untrue,  or  unholy,  or  impure,  or  violent,  or  bitter 
words,  issue  from  your  lips  ;  that  he  requires  you  to  be  per- 
fectly honest  and  upright  in  all  your  dealings,  temperate  in 
your  food,  plain  and  modest  in  your  dress,  sober,  quiet,  and 
self-denying  in  your  amusements ;  that  he  requires  you  to  be 
perfectly  pure  and  chaste,  not  only  by  abstaining  from  adul- 
tery and  fornication,  and  the  Hke  heathenish  and  open  sins, 
but  by  keeping  a  watch  over  your  very  thoughts,  and  endea- 
vouring to  be  pure  in  heart.  Lastly,  you  must  all  be  aware 
that  God  requires  you  to  be  peaceable,  gentle,  yielding,  for- 


HARVEST   LESSONS. 


275 


giving,  humble,  kind  to  all,  mild  and  affable  to  those  below 
you,  respectful  to  those  above  you,  faithful  and  active  in  all 
your  trusts  and  duties,  doing  these  and  every  other  good 
thing,  not  from  any  worldly  or  selfish  motive,  but  as  unto 
God,  out  of  love  to  him,  and  because  he  commands  you  so 
to  do.  Thus  much  of  your  duty,  I  say,  you  must  all  know  : 
at  least  if  you  do  not  (I  am  speaking  of  those  who  are 
arrived  at  manhood)  if  after  living  from  your  birth  in  a 
christian  land,  with  a  church  open  to  you  Sunday  after  Sun- 
day, you  are  still  ignorant  of  these  things,  the  fault  must  needs 
be  your  own. 

Well !  "  if  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them  : "  and  the  time  for  doing  them  is  now^  now  that  you 
are  in  the  summer  of  life.  You  have  learnt  these  great 
principles  and  rules  of  your  duty  to  God  and  man,  not  for 
the  sake  of  laying  them  up  in  your  memories,  nor  to  enable 
you  to  say  that  you  know  them.  You  were  planted  with 
them  in  your  childhood,  that  in  your  riper  age  you  might 
bring  forth  much  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God.  And  the  time 
.for  bringing  forth  that  fruit,  if  you  are  wise  sons,  wise  sons 
of  God,  and  faithful  brethren  of  Christ, — I  repeat  it,  the  time 
is  now.  Do  not  sleep  in  this  your  spiritual  harvest  of  duty 
to  God  and  man.  If  you  are  far  gone  in  manhood,  and 
have  slept  hitherto,  call  to  mind  St.  Paul's  words,  that  now 
it  is  high  time  for  you  to  awake  out  of  that  sleep.  (Rom.  xiii. 
II.)  If  you  are  just  entering  into  manhood,  beware  of 
falling  into  sleep.  Remember  that  God  requires  from  us 
the  first-fruits  of  our  days,  just  as  he  required  from  the 
children  of  Israel  the  first-fruits  of  their  corn  and  oil.  In 
every  case  avoid  the  too  common  snare  of  putting  off  the 
beginning  of  a  christian  life  to  a  more  convenient  season. 
A  more  convenient  season !  What  would  you  say  of  the 
farmer,  who  when  his  wheat  was  ripe  on  the  ground,  and  the 
sun  was  shining  in  its  summer  strength,  instead  of  putting 


276  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


the  sickle  to  the  com,  began  to  make  excuses,  and  say : 
"  No,  it  is  rather  hot  to-day ;  and  it  may  rain  next  week : 
and  there  is  a  wedding  I  wish  to  go  to  at  the  other  end  of 
the  county.  I  will  put  off  my  harvest  for  a  month  or  so. 
The  season  then  will  be  more  convenient  to  me."  If  you 
would  count  such  talk  folly  and  madness  in  a  farmer,  what 
must  it  be  in  you  ?  Surely  "  the  life  is  more  than  meat." 
If  it  would  be  madness  to  put  off  the  harvest  of  the  bread 
that  perishes,  how  worse  than  madness  must  it  be  to  put  off 
the  harvest  of  holiness  and  obedience  ! 

Again,  another  practical  application  of  the  text  may  be ' 
made  to  the  way  of  keeping  Sunday.  Sunday  is  to  the  rest 
of  the  week  in  spirituals,  what  summer  is  to  the  rest  of  the 
year  in  temporals.  It  is  the  chief  time  for  gathering  know- 
ledge to  last  you  through  the  following  week,  just  as  summer 
is  the  chief  season  for  gathering  food  to  last  you  through 
the  following  twelvemonth.  Do  you  make  the  most  of  this 
weekly  summer  ?  Do  you,  like  wise  sons,  gather  instruction 
by  Hstening  to  the  reader  and  the  preacher?  Do  you 
gather  fresh  stores  of  grace  and  strength  by  diligent  and 
humble  attendance  on  the  ordinances  of  God  ?  Or  do  you 
sleep  ?  Surely  this  question  may  well  be  asked  in  church. 
For  many  do  sleep  away  their  Sunday,  some  at  church,  and 
some  at  home  :  and  many  who  keep  the  eyes  of  their  body 
open,  allow  the  eyes  of  their  mind  to  close,  and  are  no 
wiser  and  no  better  for  all  they  hear  with  their  ears  and 
repeat  with  their  lips  in  this  place,  than  if  they  had  not  set 
their  foot  in  it.  Verily  I  must  warn  you,  brethren,  such 
sleepers  do  indeed  cause  shame.  They  are  a  shame  to  their 
minister,  whose  teaching  they  refuse  to  profit  by.  They  are 
a  shame  to  the  Church,  which  received  them  when  infants 
into  her  bosom.  They  are  a  disgrace  to  the  Lord  and 
Master,  whose  name  they  bear,  but  whose  word  they 
pay  no  heed  to,  and  whose  day  they  waste  in  sloth  and 
carelessness. 


HARVEST   LESSONS. 


277 


Such  are  some  of  the  simplest  ways  in  which  the  text  may 
be  applied  to  spiritual  and  practical  truths.  Such  are  some 
of  the  various  harvests  which  we  are  called  to  gather  in  ; 
the  harvest  of  youth,  when  we  should  gather  knowledge, 
— the  harvest  of  manhood,  when  we  should  gather  holiness, 
— the  harvest  of  the  sabbath,  when  we  should  gather  spiritual 
instruction,  and  meat  for  our  soul's  need.  At  all  these 
seasons  and  in  all  these  ways,  it  behoves  us,  my  friends,  to 
gather.  Do  you  ask,  how  much?  Why,  all  we  can.  Let 
your  harvest  then  increase,  until  you  yourselves  are  gathered 
to  the  Lord  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  great  harvest,  according 
to  the  saying  of  the  Psalmist :  "  He  that  goeth  forth  and 
weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again 
with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him"  (cxxvi.  6). 
You  see  the  Psalmist  says,  doubtless  he  shall  come  again. 
And  so  it  must  needs  be.  He  who  came  once  as  a  Man  of 
Sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  bringing  us  the  precious 
seed  of  God's  word,  will  doubtless  return  again ;  but  he  will 
return  no  longer  sorrowing.  He  will  have  seen  of  the  tra- 
vail of  his  soul,  and  be  satisfied.  He  will  have  collected 
the  fruits  of  his  glorious  labours,  the  souls  he  has  won,  the 
spirits  he  has  purified.  So  will  he  come  again  rejoicing, 
bringing  these  his  sheaves  with  him.  That  you,  my  brethren, 
may  have  a  place  in  that  blessed  harvest-home,  God  of  his 
infinite  mercy  grant ! 


XXIV. 

USE  THE  BIBLE. 

Luke  viii.  ii. 
The  seed  is  the  word  of  God. 

"VTEVER  were  there  so  many  Bibles  in  the  world  as 
'''  ^  within  the  last  few  years.  Our  first  feeling  on  hear- 
ing this  ought  to  be  thankfulness  to  God,  for  having  sown 
the  seed  of  eternal  life  so  plentifully.  But  this  brings  the 
parable  of  the  sower  into  our  thoughts.  One  cannot  help 
remembering  the  sad  lesson  it  teaches, — that  a  great  deal 
of  seed  may  be  sown  to  very  little  purpose ;  and  that,  if 
we  are  not  careful  how  we  hear  and  read,  the  mere 
reading  and  hearing  can  do  us  no  good.  Thus  we  are 
led  to  look  a  little  closer  into  the  matter,  and  to  ask 
ourselves  such  questions  as  these  : — Has  the  increase  of 
godliness  amongst  us  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  our 
Bibles  ?  Are  we  as  much  better  as  we  ought  to  be  with 
our  more  abundant  means  ?  Has  the  fresh  seed  scattered 
over  the  land  produced  a  proportionate  increase  in  the 
harvest  ?  These  are  very  important  questions.  For,  if  the 
Lord  of  the  farm,  if  the  great  Sower  does  not  see  the 
promise  of  a  crop  in  some  measure  answering  to  the  good 
seed  he  has  bestowed  on  the  land,  he  will  be  sure  to  ask, 
"  Why  is  this  ?     Did  I  not  sow  good  seed  in  the  fields  of 


USE    THE    BIBLE.  279 


England  ?  How  then  come  they  to  be  so  full  of  tares  ?  so 
full  of  thistles  ?  so  full  of  poppies  ?  How  is  it  that  in  some 
parts  of  the  farm  I  even  see  the  foxglove  and  the  deadly 
nightshade?  Useless  weeds,  gaudy  weeds,  weeds  that 
overrun  the  ground,  even  poisonous  weeds  I  see  in  it.  But 
I  see  not  the  plenty  of  good  wheat  which  I  ought  to  find, 
and  which  alone  can  be  stored  in  my  barn.  Why  has  the 
crop  failed  so  shamefully?" 

The  failure  of  a  crop  must  be  owing  to  one  or  more  of 
these  four  causes.  Either  the  seed  must  be  bad ;  or  the 
season  must  be  bad ;  or  the  land  must  be  bad ;  or  the 
tillage  must  be  bad.  Now  the  failure  of  a  crop  of  holiness, 
if  the  crop  has  failed,  in  England,  cannot  be  owing  to  the 
first  of  these  causes ;  for  the  seed  is  as  good  as  ever.  The 
Bible  has  not  grown  worse,  or  lost  any  of  its  virtue.  It  is 
the  same  book  it  always  was ;  and  is  just  as  able  now,  as  it 
can  ever  have  been  of  yore,  to  make  men  wise  unto  salva- 
tion. Nor  is  the  failure  of  the  crop  owing  to  any  peculiarly 
bad  season.  The  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  still  falls, 
like  mild  showers,  gently  and  plentifully  on  men's  hearts,  to 
soften  and  fit  them  for  receiving  the  word  of  God.  The 
Sun  of  Righteousness  still  shines  and  reigns  in  heaven;  and 
from  his  golden  throne,  when  the  good  wheat  has  sprung 
up  and  come  to  ear,  he  pours  down  warmth  enough  to  ripen 
it  and  bring  it  to  perfection.  Nor  again  is  the  failure  of  the 
crop  owing  to  the  badness  of  the  soil.  Bad  enough  it  is, 
to  be  sure,  naturally ;  but  we  know  how  much  the  very 
worst  soil  may  be  bettered  by  care  and  labour.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  not  worse  now.  Man's  heart  is  not  worse  now 
than  it  was  formerly.  If  it  brought  forth  fruit  formerly, — 
nay,  if  in  thousands  and  thousands  of  cases,  it  is  made  to 
bring  forth  good  fruit  now  —  fruit  that  we  can  see  and 
judge  of  in  the  holiness,  the  uprightness,  the  meekness,  the 
patience,  the  humble  faith  of  sincerely  guod  Chiiatiaus, — 


28o  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

then  it  clearly  cannot  be  the  badness  of  the  land  that  causes 
the  failure  of  the  crop.  The  land  might  be  brought  into 
cultivation  in  spite  of  its  natural  badness, — the  heart  might 
be  reclaimed  in  spite  of  its  natural  corruption, — were  proper 
care  and  pains  bestowed  on  it.  But  in  too  many  cases 
they  are  not.  This  is  the  woful  truth  ;  and  to  this  is  the 
scantiness  of  the  crop  owing.  It  is  owing,  we  can  trace  it, 
to  no  other  cause  :  it  is  owing  to  nothing  but  badness  of 
tillage.  The  land  is  no  worse  than  it  used  to  be ;  the  sea- 
sons are  as  good  as  ever :  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  still 
sheds  light  and  warmth ;  the  dew  of  the  Holy  Spirit  still 
falls ;  the  word  is  still  the  seed  of  eternal  life ;  it  is  scattered 
much  more  plentifully ;  much  more  land  is  sown  ;  and  yet, 
owing  to  the  sloth,  or  the  folly,  or  the  dishonest  negligence 
of  the  men  to  whom  God  has  let  his  farm,  the  crop  with 
all  these  advantages  has  not  increased  in  due  proportion. 
Think  you,  then,  God  will  leave  his  farm  in  the  hands  of 
persons  who  so  neglect  it  ?  Think  you,  he  will  continue  to 
pour  down  the  riches  of  his  grace  on  us  in  such  abundance, 
if  we  continue  to  disregard  it,  and  to  make  him  no  return  for 
it?     Remember  the  barren  fig-tree. 

These  are  some  of  the  thoughts  and  questions,  which 
spring  up  in  the  mind  of  a  thinking  person  on  his  hearing 
what  a  vast  number  of  Bibles  and  New  Testaments  have 
been  sold  and  given  away  in  the  course  of  the  last  few 
years.  But  another  step  is  wanting  to  make  these  questions 
practically  useful ;  and  that  is,  to  apply  them  to  ourselves. 
Have  we  made  the  most  of  the  opportunities  which  God 
has  vouchsafed  to  us,  of  reading  his  word  and  learning  his 
will?  Some  of  us  have  enjoyed  these  opportunities  from 
childhood  upward  ;  and  these  have  the  more  to  answer  for. 
Others  have  had  fresh  opportunities  of  the  kind  offered 
them  in  later  life.  But  what  use  have  you  made  of  them  ? 
Have  you  used  the  Bible  at  all?     Have  you  used  it  regu- 


USE    THE    BIBLE.  281 


larly  ?  Have  you  read  it  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  learn 
the  will  of  God  ?  Have  you  read  it  thankfully,  and  felt 
grateful  to  God,  that,  while  so  many  of  the  wise  and  rich 
heathens  are  pining  from  lack  of  food  for  their  souls,  you 
have  plenty, — that  while  they  are  left  in  darkness,  you  see  ? 
Have  you  read  it  devoutly,  and  prayed  to  God  that  he 
would  enable  you  to  understand  what  you  read  ?  so  that 
you  might  apply  the  promises  and  the  threats  of  Scripture, 
each  to  his  own  wants.  Above  all,  have  you  endeavoured 
to  practise  what  you  have  learnt?  Have  you  kept  well  in 
mind  that  it  is  useless  to  read  about  God's  will,  unless  we 
also  do  it  ?  In  a  word,  have  you  wished,  and  tried,  and 
prayed  to  become,  not  wiser  only  by  your  reading,  but 
better?  These  are  home  and  searching  questions,  perhaps; 
but  they  are  no  way  the  worse  for  that.  If  they  help  you 
to  search  out  the  nature  of  your  soul's  disorder,  be  it  spiritual 
sloth,  or  thoughtlessness,  or  a  disregard  for  God's  holy 
word, — be  your  spiritual  malady  what  it  may, — if  these 
questions  lead  you  to  search  it  out,  one  of  these  days  you 
will  be  thankful  for  them.  As  to  their  being  home  questions, 
what  is  the  pulpit  made  for  ?  why  is  the  preacher  set  here, 
except  to  call  you  homel  Home,  ye  lost  sheep,  to  the  fold 
of  Christ  your  Shepherd  !  Home,  ye  prodigal  sons,  to  the 
house  of  your  loving  Father  !  Home,  ye  truant  children  ! 
your  God  is  calling,  your  Master  and  Saviour  is  waiting  for 
you ;  hasten  home  to  him.  Sin  is  not  your  home ;  for  ye 
are  heaven-born  spirits !  Earth  is  not  your  home ;  for 
Christ  has  redeemed  you  from  its  bondage !  You  are  free 
to  go  where  you  please :  back,  then,  to  your  only  true  home, 
to  heaven.  These  are  the  very  invitations  which  we,  who 
have  received  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  are  to  utter 
before  you  in  Christ's  name.  The  preacher  is  ordained  on 
purpose  to  call  your  wandering  hearts  homeward.  If  the 
questions  I  have  been  putting  to  you  help  to  do  so, — if 


282  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

they  awaken  you  to  bethink  yourselves  that  you  have  all  a 
journey  to  take, — some  of  you  perhaps  a  long  one, — and 
that  the  Bible  is  a  book  of  rules  and  directions,  given  you 
by  your  heavenly  Father,  to  guide  you  on  this  journey,  and 
to  show  you  the  true  and  only  road  to  his  great  mansion, — 
if  they  remind  you  that  a  book  is  of  no  use  unless  it  is  read, 
and  that  reading  is  of  no  use  unless  we  practise  what  we 
read, — if  these  questions  stir  up  thought  of  this  kind  within 
you,  or  put  you  in  timely  remembrance  of  these  plain  but 
most  important  truths,  they  do  just  what  they  ought  to  do. 
May  God  render  them,  and  whatever  else  I  may  say  to  you 
in  his  name,  and  as  his  messenger,  profitable  to  the  welfare 
of  your  souls ! 

But  questions  are  of  no  use,  unless  they  are  answered, 
and  answered  truly.  I  would  therefore  advise  every  one 
who  owns  a  Bible  or  a  New  Testament,  to  think  well  what 
answer  he  can  make  to  the  questions  I  have  been  asking. 
They  who  can  say  yes,  from  the  bottom  of  the  heart,  to  all 
those  questions, — they  whose  conscience  bears  them  witness 
that  they  have  regularly,  thankfully,  and  with  prayer  to  God 
searched  the  Book  of  Life,  for  the  sake  of  learning  to  live, 
— these  have  good  reason  to  rejoice,  for  they  may  feel  sure 
that  their  prayers  will  be  heard,  and  that  their  search  after 
God  will  be  rewarded.  Though  he  may  seem  to  hide  him- 
self from  them  for  a  season,  it  is  only  to  draw  them  on  to 
seek  him  with  greater  earnestness.  He  is  near  them  all  the 
time,  and  sooner  or  later  will  unveil  himself.  Just  as  men 
see,  and  can  bear  to  look  on  the  image  of  the  sun  in  a  clear 
fountain,  so  shall  all  such  persons  see  God  reflected  in  the 
character  of  his  Christ.  They  shall  see  him  in  Christ's 
purity ;  they  shall  see  him  in  Christ's  patience ;  above  all, 
they  shall  see  him  in  Christ's  love.  He  will  teach  them 
every  truth  necessary  for  their  souls :  he  will  lead  them  by 
his  Spirit  along  the  paths  of  holiness.     On  them  the  good 


USE    THE    BIBLE.  283 


seed  will  not  be  thrown  away;  but  they  shall  bring  forth 
the  fruit  of  good  living  every  year  more  and  more,  until 
their  Master  sends  Death  to  reap  them,  and  gather  them 
into  his  heavenly  bam. 

Such  will  be  the  blessed  lot  of  those  who  are  making  a 
right  use  of  God's  good  book,  if  they  only  persevere  as  they 
have  begun.  If  they  do  not  persevere,  I  need  hardly  tell 
you,  all  they  have  done  hitherto  will  go  for  nothing.  Their 
object  as  farmers  is  to  house  their  corn :  their  object  as 
travellers  is  to  reach  their  home.  If  a  man  had  to  receive 
a  legacy  by  going  to  Bristol,  what  good  would  it  do  him  to 
set  out  on  his  way  thither,  unless  he  went  all  the  way  ? 
Would  he  get  anything  by  going  as  far  as  Melksham,  or 
even  as  far  as  Bath,  unless  he  went  still  further?  The 
legacy  is  to  be  paid  at  Bristol,  and  nowhere  else  ;  and  if 
the  man  is  lazy  or  fickle  enough  to  stop  before  he  gets  to 
Bristol,  not  a  sixpence  of  it  will  he  receive.  Therefore  we 
must  persevere  unto  the  journey's  end,  if  we  would  have  a 
share  in  Christ's  great  legacy.  Or  how  would  it  iare  with 
the  farmer,  if  he  were  to  leave  his  crop  to  rot  on  the  ground, 
rather  than  be  at  the  pains  to  harvest  it  ?  What  good  will 
his  having  sown  it  do  him  ?  Sowing  is  nothing  unless  we 
also  reap ;  and  even  reaping  the  corn  is  nothing  unless  we 
afterward  house  it.  But  perhaps  you  will  tell  me,  I  am 
talking  of  impossibilities  ;  for  no  man  who  thought  a  legacy 
worth  going  after  was  ever  known  to  stop  half-way  ;  nor  did 
any  person,  after  ploughing  and  sowing  his  field,  ever  fail, 
when  summer  came,  to  harvest  it.  You  would  say  truly. 
These  are  impossibilities  in  earthly  matters ;  but  are  tliey 
impossibilities  in  heavenly  matters?  Do  persons,  after 
starting  on  their  heavenly  journey  in  the  morning  of  life, 
with  a  heart  full  of  godly  resolutions,  never  flag  ?  never  loiter? 
never  stop  short?  never  turn  round  and  ride  back  again? 
Do  they,  after  putting  their  hand  to  the  plough,  never  leave 


284  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

it  in  mid-furrow  ?  Would  it  were  so  !  Heaven  would  be 
much  fuller  than  it  is.  God's  army  is  weakened  not  so  much 
by  desertion,  as  by  straggling ;  and  for  one  wretch  who  goes 
over  openly  and  gives  himself  up  to  Satan,  twenty  are  cut 
off  by  him,  while  they  are  idling  and  lingering  in  the  rear. 

Hitherto  I  have  been  speaking  to  those  who  have  been 
making  a  good  use  of  their  Bibles,  and  New  Testaments  : 
and  I  have  said  such  things  as  seemed  likely  to  stir  them 
to  perseverance.  But  are  there  not  some  among  you  who 
have  neglected  to  use  their  books  ?  To  them  I  will  only 
say,  Begin.  Ii  the  miser's  folly  is  great,  who  starves  amid 
his  chests  of  treasure, — if  the  sailor's  folly  would  be  great, 
who  tried  to  steer  without  chart  or  compass, — if  the  farmer's 
folly  would  be  great,  who  left  his  fields  unsown, — how  much 
greater  must  your  folly  be,  who  make  no  use  of  the  charts 
and  compass  God  has  given  you  to  guide  you  through  the 
shoals  of  this  world,  who  let  your  minds  lie  fallow  of  holi- 
ness, and  who,  with  the  food  of  angels  on  your  shelves, 
starve  your  souls  to  death.  Remember,  man  does  not  live 
by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  God.  God's  word  is  a  portion  of  the  food  he 
has  given  to  man  to  live  by.  It  is  the  spiritual  sustenance 
he  has  provided  to  support  the  spiritual  part  of  us,  the  soul. 
For  the  soul,  as  well  as  the  body,  requires  its  fitting  food. 
Both  must  be  supported  and  nourished,  if  we  would  have 
them  thrive.  Were  a  man  to  feed  nothing  but  the  spiritual 
part  of  him,  were  he  to  do  nothing  but  read  and  think  and 
pray,  we  all  know  he  would  die  of  hunger.  His  body  would 
pine  away  for  want  of  bodily  sustenance.  And  think  you, 
if  a  man  feeds  nothing  but  his  body,  that  his  soul  does  not 
in  like  manner  fall  away  and  grow  weaker  and  weaker  for 
want  of  that  spiritual  food,  which  is  its  proper  nourishment? 
I  tell  you,  at  last  it  would  become  so  feeble,  were  it  to  go 
without  all  spiritual  food,  that  a  mere  straw  of  a  temptation 


USE   THE    BIHLE.  285 


would  be  Strong  enough  to  overthrow  its  strongest  resolu- 
tion. The  truth  however  is,  that  a  man's  soul  is  never  left 
quite  without  all  spiritual  nourishment,  so  long  as  he  comes 
to  church,  and  attends  to  what  goes  on  there.  But  church 
comes  only  once  a  week :  and  if  the  soul  gets  no  spiritual 
food,  beyond  what  it  may  pick  up  there,  I  leave  you  to 
judge  whether  it  is  likely  to  shoot  up  into  a  strong  and 
healthy  growth  of  godliness. 

Wonder  not  that  I  speak  to  you  of  spiritual  food.  Does 
not  all  nature  cry,  from  every  part  of  the  creation,  that 
everything  earthly  must  be  fed  ?  Fire  must  be  fed  :  water 
must  be  fed  :  even  the  earth  itself,  which  feeds  all  things, 
must  be  fed  :  else  it  will  crumble  into  dust,  or  harde  n  into 
a  rock.  So  is  it  with  the  soul.  That  too,  as  well  aS  the 
body,  must  be  fed  with  food  suited  to  its  nature.  This  is 
so  plain,  that  the  heathens  themselves  knew  it.  They  were 
fully  aware  that  the  soul  would  never  thrive,  unless  it  was 
nourished  with  food  suitable  to  it :  and  to  find  that  food 
was  the  great  desire  of  the  best  and  wisest  men  among 
them.  With  this  view  they  betook  themselves  to  philosophy, 
as  they  called  it,  that  is,  to  the  study  of  wisdom,  in  the 
hope  of  nourishing  their  souls  with  that.  Alas  !  if  we  take 
out  the  few  good  grains  which  they  found  among  the  sweep- 
ings of  the  granary  of  tradition,  if  we  take  out  the  cmmbs 
which  some  few  of  them  had  picked  up  under  the  children's 
table,  their  philosophy  was  little  better  than  the  acorns 
which  the  prodigal  son  was  fain  to  stay  his  hunger  on,  be- 
cause he  could  get  nothing  else.  They  stayed  their  spiritual 
hunger  on  the  acorns  of  philosophy  :  because  with  all  their 
search  they  could  get  nothing  sounder  or  better.  Now  if 
they  did  this,  they  who  only  knew  that  their  spirits  required 
food,  from  feeling  them  crave  for  it,  what  will  God  say  to 
us,  if  we  are  less  anxious  about  the  nourishment  of  our 
souls?    We  have  been  taught  that  man  does  not  live  by 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


bread  alone  :  we  have  been  exhorted  by  Christ  himself  not 
to  labour  only  for  the  meat  that  perisheth,  but  rather  for 
that  good  meat  which  endureth  to  everlasting  life.  Thus 
we  have  not  been  left  to  find  out  of  ourselves,  that  our  souls 
need  support :  we  have  this  truth  declared  to  us ;  and  a 
command  has  been  given  us  to  feed  them.  Moreover  the 
food  is  set  before  us.  Those  who  have  Bibles  or  New 
Testaments  have  it  on  their  shelves  :  they  have  only  to 
take  and  eat.  If  we  then,  who,  instead  of  the  acorns  of 
man's  wisdom,  have  the  word  of  God,  which  is  the  bread 
of  life,  that  word  which  our  hearts  can  thrive  on,  that  word 
which  our  souls  may  live  by  ages  after  this  world  has  past 
away, — if  we  will  not  take  this  heavenly  food,  even  when  it 
has  been  so  bountifully  placed  within  our  reach,  how  inex- 
cusable shall  we  be  ! 

For  the  Bible  is  not  a  charm,  that  keeping  it  on  our 
shelves,  or  locking  it  up  in  a  closet,  can  do  us  any  good. 
Nor  is  it  a  story-book  to  read  for  amusement.  It  is  sent  to 
teach  us  our  duty  to  God  and  man,  to  show  us  from  what  a 
height  we  are  fallen  by  sin,  and  to  what  a  far  more  glorious 
height  we  may  soar,  if  we  will  put  on  the  wings  of  faith  and 
love.  This  is  the  use  of  the  Bible  ;  and  this  use  we  ought  to 
make  of  it.  Use  it  then  for  this  purpose,  each  according  to  his 
means.  All  indeed  have  not  time  for  much  reading;  but  every 
one  who  wishes  it  may  at  least  manage  to  read  a  verse  or 
two,  when  he  comes  home  of  an  evening,  and  of  a  morning 
before  going  to  work.  Now  a  couple  of  verses  well  thought 
over  will  do  a  man  more  good  than  whole  chapters  swallowed 
without  thought.  Do  but  this  little,  my  brethren ;  and 
God,  who  judges  us  according  to  our  means,  and  who  looked 
with  greater  favour  on  the  two  mites  of  the  poor  widow,  than 
on  all  the  golden  offerings  of  the  rich,  will  accept  your  two 
verses  and  enable  your  souls  to  grow  and  gain  strength  by 
this  their  daily  food.     Christ,  who  is  the  way  of  life,  will 


USE   THE    BIBLE.  287 


open  your  eyes  to  see  the  way.  He  will  send  you  the 
wings  I  just  spoke  of;  and  they  shall  bear  you  up  to 
heaven. 

For  this  must  be  always  kept  in  mind,  that  God  alone 
giveth  the  increase.  Unless  he  gives  it,  no  increase  shall 
we  receive.  Our  light  will  not  be  increased ;  so  that  we 
shall  gain  no  new  insight  into  the  wondrous  things  of  God's 
law.  Our  joy  will  not  be  increased;  so  that  the  study  of 
God's  book  will  continue  an  irksome  task.  Our  labour  will 
be  without  fruit ;  because  it  has  been  without  a  blessing  ; 
and  we  shall  have  to  say,  as  the  apostles  did,  before  Jesus 
came  to  help  them  in  their  fishing,  "We  have  toiled  all 
night,  and  have  caught  nothing."  (Luke  v.  5.)  The  only 
way  of  insuring  that  our  labour  shall  not  be  thus  fruitless, 
is  by  prayer :  the  only  way  of  drawing  down  a  blessing  on 
our  study,  is  to  ask  for  it.  Let  us  pray  then  to  Jesus,  the 
author  of  our  faith,  that  he  will  finish  the  good  work  he  has 
begun.  Let  us  beseech  him  to  come  to  us  by  his  Spirit  and 
join  himself  to  us,  as  he  came  and  joined  himself  to  the 
apostles,  that  our  studies  may  prosper,  and  our  labour  be 
successful,  and  that  out  of  the  living  waters  of  salvation  we 
may  draw  truth,  and  hope,  and  constancy  in  well-doing,  and 
gentleness,  and  active  love  towards  all  our  fellow-creatures. 
Let  us  beseech  him  that  ''  through  patience  and  comfort  of 
the  Scriptures  we  may  have  hope."  (Rom.  xv.  4.)  For 
unless  there  be  patience  there  can  be  no  comfort.  If  a 
medicine  is  to  do  us  good,  we  must  take  it.  If  we  read  the 
Bible  in  the  spirit  of  patience,  it  will  bring  us  to  a  know- 
ledge of  ourselves.  It  describes  and  lays  bare  every  evil 
propensity,  every  weakness,  every  wandering,  to  which  the 
heart  of  man  is  liable.  It  comes  home  to  our  business  and 
to  our  bosoms.  It  puts  its  finger  on  the  dark  spot  within 
us,  and  plainly  and  loudly  utters  in  the  ears  of  every  one 
those  dreadful  words,  "  Thou  art  the  man."     As  you  love 


288  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

truth,  as  you  prize  the  welfare  of  your  souls,  do  not  shrink 
from  that  touch,  however  painful;  do  not  shut  your  ears 
against  those  warning  words,  however  harsh.     Be  patient  of 
Scripture  truths.     Place  yourselves  honestly,  after  prayer  to 
God,  in  the  light  of  those  passages  of  the  Bible,  which  fall  the 
most  piercingly  on  your  besetting  sin.     Look  at  yourselves 
narrowly  by  that  light :  it  will  scatter  any  fogs  which  may  be 
covering  the  hollows  of  your  conscience,  and  will  lead  you 
from  the  darkness  of  contented  ignorance  into  the  pure  and 
marvellous   brightness  of  God.      Begin  with    patience   of 
God's  holy  word,  and  you  will  assuredly  get  in  time  to  the 
comfort  of  it.     Let  us  only  be  persuaded  that  our  strength 
at  the  best  is  but  weakness ;  let  us  be  brought  to  feel  that 
we  are  labouring  under  a  sickness,  which  none  save  God 
can  heal,  that  we  are  threatened  by  dangers  which  he  alone 
can  ward  off,  that  he,  and  none  else,  can  deliver  us  from 
the  burden  of  our  sorrow ;  let  us  be  made  to  acknowledge 
these  truths,  and  the  Scriptures  will  become  a  well-spring  of 
delight  to  us.     For  they,  and  they  alone,  shew  our  Maker 
to  us  in  the  character  in  which  we  shall  then  feel  that  we 
want  him.      We  shall   no  longer  ask  with   the    confident 
lawyer,  or  with  the  self-satisfied  young  man,  "  What  must  I 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life?"  (Luke  x.  25.)     A  much  more 
painful  question   bursts   from    our   stricken   and   bleeding 
hearts ;  and  we  cry  out  with  the  jailor  of  Philippi,  "  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  (Acts  xvi.  30.)     The  Bible,  and 
the  Bible  alone,  gives  an  answer  to  this  question.     For  it 
speaks  not  of  God  alone,  nor  of  man  alone,  but  of  God  and 
man  at  once, — of  God  reconciled  to  man  for  the  sake  and 
merit  of  his  Son  :  it  speaks  of  the  very  thing  which  in  our 
heaviness  we  long  to  hear  of.    Whatever  maybe  the  wounds 
we  are  suffering  from,  it  has  a  balm  and  a  medicine    to 
heal  them.     As  the  good  Samariian  poured  oil  and  wine 
into  the  wounds  of  the  bleeding  and  fainting  Jew,  so  do  the 


USE    THE    BIBLE.  289 


Scriptures  apply  a  like  remedy  to  our  wounded  hearts,  even 
the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  which  answers  to  the  wine, 
and  the  anointing  and  sustaining  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  acts  the  part  of  the  sweet  and  healing  oil.  In 
a  word,  the  Bible  sets  before  us  the  divine  Emmanuel,  God 
with  us,  who  is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren, — who 
places  himself  at  our  head,  like  a  valiant  captain,  to  cheer 
and  lead  us  on  to  victory, — and  who,  having  himself 
endured  temptation,  knows  its  danger  and  its  power,  and  is 
therefore  ready  to  succour  us  in  the  hour  of  trial,  if  we  will 
only  call  to  him  lor  help. 

This  is  the  great  comfort  of  the  Scriptures,  even  Christ, 
"  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation." 
His  glorious  coming  is  called  in  the  Gospel  "  the  consola- 
tion of  Israel."  (Luke  ii.  25.)  When  spiritually  laid  hold  of, 
and  practically  applied  by  each  man  to  his  own  needs,  it  is 
still  the  consolation  of  every  true  Christian.  To  us  also,  if 
we  so  lay  hold  on  it,  and  so  apply  it,  will  it  become  a  prin- 
ciple of  life.  Not  of  a  fleshly  and  animal  life,  such  as  we 
share  with  beasts  and  birds  :  not  of  a  life  frail  and  perish- 
able, which  an  accident  may  snap  short  at  any  moment ; 
nor  again  of  a  life  gross  and  sensual,  which  is  merely  the 
life  of  the  baser  part  of  us,  the  body,  but  the  death  or 
numbness  of  the  soul.  The  life  that  God's  word  sows 
within  us,  is  pure  and  spiritual  and  deathless.  It  is  the 
blessed  hope  of  everlasting  life,  which  we  are  to  embrace 
and  hold  fast  through  our  Saviour. 

But  how  can  such  a  life, — this  is  the  last  point  I  shall 
touch  on, — how  can  a  lile  of  this  kind  begin  here  ?  It  can 
begin, — and,  what  is  more,  it  must  begin  here,  or  it  will 
never  begin  at  all, — in  our  putting  on  the  likeness  of  God 
and  of  his  Son,  whom  to  know  and  to  follow  after  is  life 
eternal.  He  is  the  true  God,  says  St.  John  in  his  ist 
Epistle,  and  eternal  life.     Would  you  have  eternal  life,  the 

u 


290  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


hope  of  it,  the  foretaste  of  it  in  this  world  ?  you  must  draw 
r»igh  to  Christ.  He  has  promised  that,  if  we  draw  nigh  to 
him,  he  will  draw  nigh  to  us,  and  at  last  will  come  and  take 
up  his  abode  in  our  hearts,  and  will  light  the  everlasting 
lamp  of  truth  and  love  within  us.  An  eternal  life,  I  need 
hardly  tell  you,  must  be  a  heavenly  life.  Lead  heavenly 
lives  then  and  your  lives  will  be  eternal.  But  what  are 
heavenly  lives  ?  such  lives  as  are  led  in  heaven,  where  all 
obey  God's  will.  Such  a  life  as  our  Saviour  led  on  earth, 
whose  meat  and  drink  it  was  not  to  do  his  own  will,  but  the 
will  and  the  work  of  God  the  Father.  Follow  then  after 
God's  will  faithfully  and  steadfastly :  take  the  example  and 
the  principles  of  your  Master  for  your  guides  :  and  they 
will  lead  you,  it  may  be,  through  much  trouble, — I  have  no 
warrant  to  promise  you  a  freedom  from  earthly  trials, — it 
may  be,  through  evil  report  and  contempt :  for  as  they 
called  your  Master  Beelzebub,  and  St.  Paul  mad,  so  will 
men  at  times  speak  ill  of  you,  and  think  you  mean-spirited 
and  foolish.  But,  if  you  can  bear  up  under  these  crosses, — 
and  Christ  for  your  sakes  was  loaded  with  a  much  heavier, 
— if  you  can  walk  along,  notwithstanding  your  afflictions,  in 
the  path  which  Jesus  trod  before,  it  will  bring  you  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  to  the  glorious  threshold 
of  heaven.  Is  the  path  too  rough  for  the  delicate  feet  of 
human  pride  and  passions  ?  Let  your  feet  be  shod  with  the 
preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace  ;  and  you  will  find  the 
path  bearable  enough.  Be  it  rough,  however,  or  be  it 
smooth,  walk  along  it  we  must,  if  we  would  go  to  heaven. 
For  I  should  be  deceiving  you,  if  I  did  not  tell  you  plainly, 
that  the  straight,  the  narrow,  and  the  toilsome  road,  is  the 
only  one  that  leadeth  upward. 

We  must  imitate  the  behaviour  of  Jesus  here,  if  we  would 
live  with  him  hereafter.  That  sublime  devotion,  which  made 
his  whole  life  one  unceasing  prayer,  his  pure,  meek,  self- 


USE   THE    BIBLE. 


291 


denying  spirit,  his  love  of  all  men,  his  special  delight  in 
those  who  shewed  themselves  by  their  faith  to  be  true 
children  of  God, — these  qualities,  which  are  written  in 
Scripture  for  our  instruction,  must  all  be  copied  by  us,  and 
written  in  our  hearts  and  lives,  before  we  can  hope  to  have 
communion  with  the  saints  above.  Amongst  them  such 
tempers,  and  no  others,  can  gain  admission  :  amongst  them 
such  tempers,  and  no  others,  could  be  happy. 


XXV. 

THE  BEST  CHRISTIAN,  THE  BEST  PATRIOT. 

I  Samuel  ii.  30. 

Them  that  honour  me  I  will  honour;  and  they  that  despise 
me  shall  be  Ughtly  esteemed. 

T  AM  going  to  speak  to  you  about  the  historical  books 
"*•  of  the  Old  Testament.  By  the  historical  books  I  mean 
the  Book  of  Joshua,  the  Book  of  Judges,  the  two  Books  of 
Samuel,  the  Books  of  Kings  and  of  Chronicles,  in  a  word, 
all  those  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  which  contain  the 
history  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  relate  their  dealings 
and  goings  on  from  the  time  of  Joshua,  when  they  first 
crossed  the  river  Jordan  to  conquer  and  take  possession  of 
the  land  of  Canaan,  down  to  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  king  of 
Judah,  when  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and  the  Jewish  people  were  carried  away  captive  far  from 
their  native  land.  These  are  the  chief  historical  books  of 
the  Old  Testament :  out  of  them  the  lessons  are  taken  for 
thirteen  Sundays  together,  that  is,  for  a  quarter  of  the  year. 
Now  what  do  we  learn  from  the  book  of  God  during  this 
quarter  of  a  year?  Why  has  our  Church  appointed  the 
fourth  part  of  every  year  for  the  reading  of  chapters  from 
these  historical  books  ?  What  are  the  chief  truths  which 
the  great  body  of  Christians  are  to  gather  from  them  ?    For 


THE    BEST    CHRISTIAN,    THE    BEST    PATRIOT.  293 

it  must  be  clear  to  every  one,  that  these  chapters  would 
not  be  read  to  you  over  and  over  again,  year  after  year, 
unless  the  Church  had  hoped  that  the  hearing  them  would 
in  some  way  make  you  better.  Moreover  it  must  be  clear 
to  you,  that  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  names  and  facts  set 
down  in  these  historical  books  can  do  you  no  good  what- 
ever. That  Jehu  was  the  captain  who  conspired  against  his 
master,  that  Joram  was  king  of  Israel,  and  Ahaziah  king  of 
Judah, — that  the  prophet  Elisha's  servant  was  called  Gehazi, 
— what  can  it  profit  a  man  to  know  ?  Facts  of  this  kind  are 
like  the  beard  of  the  barley  :  they  are  the  part  which  first 
comes  in  sight,  but  yield  no  nourishment.  If  a  person 
learnt  nothing  from  Scripture,  but  a  list  of  names  and  facts, 
such  as  that  Samson  was  the  strongest  man,  and  that 
Solomon  was  the  wisest,  he  would  not  be  a  jot  the  better  for 
his  knowledge.  Knowledge  of  this  sort  may  puff  a  man  up 
with  a  vain  conceit  of  his  learning  and  cleverness ;  but  most 
assuredly  it  cannot  edify.  One  little  verse  from  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  would  be  worth  it  all. 

The  lessons  we  are  to  draw  from  the  histories  of  the  Old 
Testament  are  not  of  names  and  facts,  but  of  laws  and  prin- 
ciples. We  are  to  look  on  those  histories  as  shewing  us  the 
wires  and  springs  by  which  God  governs  the  world.  That 
he  does  govern  the  world,  that  all  nations  of  the  earth 
are  subject  to  him,  and  that  he  allots  prosperity  to  this 
nation,  and  calamity  to  that  nation,  as  seems  best  to  him, 
we  know.  But  in  most  cases  we  cannot  make  out  the  hows 
and  the  wherefores  of  his  dealings  with  them.  We  see  that 
one  nation  is  raised,  and  another  lowered  :  but  the  reasons  of 
God's  ordinances,  and  the  way  in  which  he  brings  his  will 
to  pass,  are  mostly  hidden  from  us.  So  that  the  history  of 
most  countries  may  be  likened  to  a  great  clock  :  we  see  the 
hands  move,  and  hear  the  hours  strike ;  but  we  cannot  see 
and  examine  the  works  by  which  the  hands   are   set  in 


2  94  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


motion,  and  the  hours  are  made  to  strike.  With  thehistor)- 
of  the  Jews  however  it  is  otherwise.  In  their  case  God  has 
hfted  up  the  veil,  which  mostly  covers  his  dealings  with 
mankind:  he  has  shown  us  the  inside  of  the  clock,  and 
given  us  the  means  of  observing  how  the  wheels  and  pulleys 
act  upon  the  hands.  In  other  words,  he  has  set  before  us 
in  the  Bible,  how  entirely  the  welfare  of  a  nation  depends 
upon  the  piety  and  true  religion  of  the  people.  There  is  no 
truth  appertaining  to  what  is  called  political  wisdom,  so 
useful,  so  important,  so  indispensable  to  be  known  and  kept 
in  mind.  In  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people,  we  see  this 
truth  set  forth  not  once  and  again,  but  in  every  page.  The 
bun  does  not  ripen  the  wheat  more  regularly  or  more  con- 
stantly, than  God's  favour  attends  the  Jews  and  prospers 
them,  when  they  are  steadfast  to  walk  in  his  paths.  Nor 
are  weeds  of  all  kinds '  more  certain  to  spring  up  in  a 
neglected  piece  of  ground,  than  God's  judgments  to  fall  on 
the  children  of  Israel,  whenever  their  hearts  are  set  on  evil. 
I  was  comparing  the  world  and  its  goings  on  to  a  clock. 
If  a  savage  were  to  see  a  clock,  and  were  not  to  be  told  that 
there  are  works  which  make  it  go,  he  would  probably  fancy 
it  a  live  creature,  or  at  any  rate  that  the  hands  went  of  them- 
selves. But  after  being  shewn  the  works  of  any  one  clock, 
after  some  person  had  explained  to  him  the  uses  of  the 
wheels,  and  the  pendulum,  and  the  other  parts,  he  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  making  out  that  other  clocks  move  on 
somewhat  of  the  same  principle :  and  he  would  never  fall 
back  into  his  former  ignorant  conceit,  that  the  hands  of  any 
clock  could  go  of  their  own  accord.  The  mistake  which  I 
have  supposed  this  ignorant  savage  to  make  about  the  going 
on  of  the  clock,  is  the  very  same  which  the  ignorant  and 
irreligious  are  wont  to  make  about  the  goings  on  of  nations. 
They  only  see  the  outside  of  things.  They  will  talk  by  the 
hour  about  the  strength  of  armies,  the  size  of  fleets,  the 


THE    BEST    CHRISTIAN,    THE    BEST    PATRIOT.  295 

amount  of  revenues  :  they  will  tell  you,  that  such  a  kingdom 
has  done  well,  because  it  had  this  or  that  able  man  at  its 
head  ;  while  such  another  kingdom  has  fallen  into  decay, 
because  its  manufactures  have  been  neglected,  and  its  trade 
managed  upon  unwise  principles.  Deeper  than  this  the 
irreligious  go  not.  They  never  look  within,  at  ihe  religious 
spirit  and  moral  character  of  a  people.  Much  less  do  they 
think  of  the  great  Clockmaker,  who  regulates  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  who  alone  can  wind  them  up,  and  without 
whom  they  are  sure  to  go  down.  According  to  these  per- 
sons a  nation  goes  of  itself,  just  as,  according  to  the  savage, 
the  clock  goes  of  itself.  But  they  who  have  duly  learnt  the 
lessons  given  us  by  the  Jewish  history  in  the  Bible, — they 
who  have  been  let  in  to  a  nearer  view  of  the  secrets  of 
God's  workmanship,  and  have  been  taught  by  a  careful  study 
of  the  Old  Testament,  that  it  is  righteousness  which  exalteth 
a  nation,  and  that  thrones  are  established  by  holiness, — such 
persons  are  prepared  to  judge  of  the  goings  on  of  the  world 
much  more  piously,  and  much  more  wisely.  They  refer 
everything  to  God's  providence.  They  try  to  trace  the  work- 
ings of  his  will  throughout  the  web  of  human  afiairs ;  being 
well  aware  that,  unless  they  follow  its  guidance,  they  never 
can  hope  to  unravel  so  tangled  a  knot.  Above  all,  they  do 
their  best,  if  I  may  so  say,  to  obtain  God's  tavour  for  their 
own  country,  knowing  that,  if  he  will  but  smile  upon  it,  its 
safety  and  happiness  are  secured. 

This  is  the  great  practical  truth  to  be  drawn  from  the  his- 
torical books  of  the  Old  Testament:  and  the  Church  of 
England  has  wisely  allotted  a  large  portion  of  every  year  to 
a  course  of  chapters  teaching  it :  because  it  is  a  truth  which 
nearly  concerns  every  one,  poor  as  well  as  rich,  to  bear  in 
mind.  I  repeat  it,  the  truth,  that  the  safety  and  happiness 
of  kingdoms  depends  solely  on  God's  blessing,  is  a  truth 
which  it  concerns  every  Englishman,  poor  as  well  as  rich,  to 


296  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

keep  in  mind  :  for  this  plain  reason, — because  every  English- 
man can  lend  a  helping  hand  toward  drawing  down  that  excel- 
lent blessing  on  his  country.  For  what  says  king  David  in 
his  5th  Psalm?  "  Let  all  those  that  put  their  trust  in  thee 
rejoice;  let  them  even  shout  for  joy, because  thou  defendest 
them;  let  them  also  that  love  thy  name  be  joyful  in  thee  ; 
for  thou,  O  Lord,  wilt  bless  the  righteous."  To  the  same 
effect  writes  Solomon  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs  (xi.  11)  :  "By 
the  blessing  of  the  upright  the  city  is  exalted  ;  but  it  is  over- 
thrown by  the  mouth  of  the  wicked."  From  these  texts  we 
learn  that  God  blesses  the  righteous  in  such  a  way,  that  by 
their  means  and  for  their  sakes  nations  are  exalted.  My 
brethren,  we  as  a  people  need  no  further  exaltation.  In 
wealth,  in  strength,  in  renown,  in  extent  of  rich  and  culti- 
vated dominion,  in  variety  of  possessions  in  every  quarter  of 
the  globe,  no  nation  was  ever  equal  to  us.  In  these  respects 
God  has  raised  us  to  a  height  unknown  before,  and  has 
placed  us  on  the  very  spire  and  pinnacle  of  glory.  Let  us 
take  good  heed  that  the  height  does  not  make  us  giddy. 
Let  us  look  well  to  our  footing,  that  we  slip  not.  And  how 
is  this  to  be  done  ?  By  praying  to  God  to  hold  up  our 
goings  in  his  paths  ;  by  trusting  in  God  that  his  mercy  will 
preserve  us ;  by  acknowledging  the  Lord  in  all  our  ways, 
and  seeking  his  heavenly  wisdom,  whereby  alone  men  walk 
safely,  so  that  their  feet  do  not  stumble. 

But  now  who  is  to  do  all  these  things  ?  Who  is  it,  that 
for  his  country's  sake  is  thus  to  pray  to  God,  and  to  trust  in 
him,  and  to  acknowledge  him,  and  to  seek  his  heavenly 
wisdom  ?  Perhaps  you  will  say,  the  King.  And  the  King 
certainly  should  do  so  first  and  foremost :  for  he  is  the  head 
of  the  state,  and  as  it  were,  its  visible  representative.  In 
him  the  majesty  of  the  nation  centres ;  so  that,  whatever  he 
does,  the  nation  may  be  said  to  do.  Besides,  he  has  the 
choice  of  the  governors  and  magistrates  of  the  realm :  if  he 


THE    BEST    CHRISTIAN,    THE    BEST    PATRIOT.  297 

be  righteous,  the  pious  and  good  will  be  held  in  honour ; 
but  if  he  be  irreligious,  the  wicked  and  dissolute  will  be 
promoted.  Therefore,  seeing  that  the  piety  of  the  King 
concerns  us  all  so  very  nearly,  it  is  with  good  reason  that  we 
are  taught  to  pray  every  Sunday,  that  it  will  please  God,  not 
only  to  keep  him  in  health  and  wealth,  and  to  give  him  the 
victory  over  all  his  enemies,  but  also  to  endue  him  plen- 
teously  with  heavenly  gifts,  to  fill  him  with  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  he  may  incline  to  God's  will  and  walk  in 
his  way,  and  so  to  rule  his  heart  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God, 
that  he  may  above  all  things  seek  God's  honour  and  glory. 

But  though  the  King  ought  certainly  to  set  his  people  the 
example  of  honouring  and  serving  God,  unless  the  nation 
follow  that  example,  his  piety  alone  will  not  do.  This  was 
the  state  of  things  in  the  reign  of  the  good  king  Josiah.  We 
read  that  "  Hke  him  there  was  no  king  before  him,  who 
turned  to  the  Lord  with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all  his  soul, 
and  with  all  his  might,  according  to  all  the  law  of  Moses ; 
neither  after  him  arose  there  any  Hke  him."  Nevertheless, 
when  he  sent  to  inquire  of  the  Lord  for  himself  and  for  his 
people,  to  know  whether  God  would  bring  on  Judah  the 
judgments  he  had  denounced  on  their  iniquities,  what 
answer  did  the  Lord  make  him  ?  You  will  find  it  in  the 
22nd  chapter  of  the  2nd  Book  of  Kings.  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Behold,  I  will  bring  evil  upon  this  place,  and  upon 
the  inhabitants  thereof;  even  all  the  words  written  in  the 
book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  because  they  have  forsaken  me. 
But  to  the  king  of  Judah,  which  sent  you  to  inquire  of  the 
Lord,  thus  shall  ye  say  to  him :  Because  thine  heart  was 
tender,  and  thou  hast  humbled  thyself  before  the  Lord 
when  thou  heardest  what  I  spake  against  Jerusalem,  and  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  that  they  should  become  a  desolation 
and  a  curse,  I  also  have  heard  thee,  saith  the  Lord ;  and  I 
will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers ;  and  thou  shalt  be  gathered 


298  THE   ALTON    SERMONS.. 


into  thy  grave  in  peace  :  and  thine  eyes  shall  not  see  all  the 
evil  which  I  will  bring  upon  this  place."  Such  are  God's 
dealings  when  a  righteous  king  is  found  at  the  head  of  an 
ungodly  and  hardened  people.  He  does  not  overlook  the 
wickedness  of  the  nation,  for  the  sake  of  their  pious  niler  : 
but  he  mercifully  takes  the  good  king  from  the  evil  to 
come,  and  then  pours  out  his  vengeance  upon  the  guilty  land. 

It  is  not  enough  then  for  the  King  to  devote  himself  to 
God's  service,  unless  the  body  of  the  nation  do  so  likewise. 
But  who  are  the  body  of  the  nation?  and  of  whom  is  it 
made  up  ?  Surely  it  is  made  up  of  the  King's  subjects.  All 
the  English  people  taken  together,  all  the  men  and  women 
in  England,  make  up  the  body  of  the  English  nation. 
Consequently  you,  my  brethren,  in  your  degree,  and  I  in 
mine,  each  of  us  in  his  calling  and  station,  forms  a  part, — a 
very  sniall  part,  it  is  true,  but  still  a  visible  part,  a  living 
part,  an  accountable  part  of  this  great  nation, — a  nation  of 
which  we  and  the  rest  of  the  people  are  the  body,  and  the 
King  is  the  head. 

Now  let  me  take  a  step  further,  and  ask  you, — supposing 
a  prophet  from  heaven  were  to  denounce  God's  judgments 
against  us,  for  being  a  sinful  nation,  what  would  he  mean 
by  the  words?  Isaiah  shall  explain  them  to  you.  After 
complaining  of  Judah  for  being  a  sinful  nation,  he  proceeds 
thus  :  "  A  people  laden  with  iniquity,  a  seed  of  evildoers : 
they  have  forsaken  the  Lord,  they  are  gone  away  backward ; 
from  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head  there  is  no 
soundness  in  it "  (i.  4,  6).  A  sinful  nation,  in  one  very  plain 
and  important  sense  of  the  words,  is  a  nation  the  people 
whereof  are  sinful  from  top  to  bottom.  And  what  is  the 
consequence  of  such  sinfulness  ?  To  the  sinful  Jews  it  was 
desolation  and  destruction.  What  then  have  we  reason  to 
dread  it  would  be  to  sinful  Christians,  whose  light  is  so 
much  brighter,  and  whose  opportunities  are  so  much  greater ! 


THE    BEST   CHRISTIAN,    THE   BEST   PATRIOT.  299 

The  truth,  therefore,  that  states  and  kingdoms  flourish  and 
decay  according  to  God's  good  pleasure,  is  indeed  a  prac- 
tical truth  which  concerns  every  one.  For  we  see  that  the 
sins  of  a  nation  are  made  up  of  the  sins  of  all  the  people  in 
it.  The  drunkenness  of  one  man,  the  uncleanness  of 
another,  the  dishonesty  of  a  third,  the  op])ression  and 
covetousness  of  a  fourth,  the  unbelief  and  prof^meness  of  a 
fifth, — these  things,  small,  as  each  of  them  may  appear  to  be, 
make  up  the  gross  amount  of  a  nation's  guilt ;  just  as  a 
mountain  may  be  made  up  of  grains  of  sand,  or  as  the  great 
and  deep  sea,  the  very  waves  of  which  will  rise  mountain- 
high,  is  made  up  of  a  number  of  drops  of  water.  There  is 
an  old  and  wise  Eastern  proverb,  that  it  is  the  last  straw 
which  breaks  the  camel's  back ;  and  we  have  a  saying  not 
unlike  it,  that  it  is  the  last  drop  which  makes  the  cup  nm 
over.  My  brethren,  who  of  us  can  tell  how  full  the  cup  of 
God's  wrath  may  even  now  be  against  this  land  ?  ^V^^o  can 
tell  how  many,  or  rather  how  few  drops  it  may  want,  to 
make  it  overflow,  and  whelm  us  with  the  waters  of  bitter- 
ness. What  can  move  God  to  stretch  out  his  protecting 
hand,  but  the  prayer  and  the  repentance  of  his  people  ? 

But  God  is  not  unmerciful,  to  mark  the  evil  only.  His 
eyes  are  also  upon  the  good.  It  is  for  them,  for  his 
children,  that  the  events  of  this  world  are  disposed.  It  is 
for  the  sake  of  the  wheat  that  the  tares  are  spared,  lest, 
as  our  Saviour  says,  while  the  tares  are  gathered  up,  the 
good  wheat  be  rooted  up  also.  Every  additional  ear  of 
good  wheat,  every  new  convert  to  Jesus  Christ,  is  so  much 
added  to  the  safety  of  England.  Were  all  good,  the  nation 
would  be  righteous,  and  God's  favour  would  rest  upon  us. 
The  land  would  be  like  the  garden  of  Eden,  so  tliat  all 
who  visited  it  would  say,  See  the  land  which  the  Lord  hath 
blessed  !  On  the  other  hand  if  all  were  evil,  if  the  people 
had  altogether  corrupted  itself,  and  forsaken  the  law  of  God, 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


the  land  would  soon   be  turned  into  a  wilderness,  for  the 
wickedness  of  them  that  dwell  therein. 

At  present  we  are  neither  all  good,  nor,  praised  be  God  ! 
all  evil.  Bat  good  and  evil,  piety  and  ungodliness,  justice 
and  fraud,  mercy  and  oppression,  are  carrying  on  a  mighty 
struggle,  and  dividing  the  people  of  the  land.  In  this  great 
war  there  are  no  neuters.  Every  one  who  is  not  on  Christ's 
side,  is  against  him.  Every  one  therefore  must  choose  his 
side.  On  which  side  will  you  be  ?  I  ask  you,  each  of  you, 
will  you  be  on  the  side  of  Christ,  which  is  the  side  of  bless- 
ing ?  or  will  you  be  on  the  side  of  sin,  which  is  the  side  of 
cursing  ?  Will  you  be  on  the  side  of  godliness,  which  calls 
down  blessings  upon  England  ?  or  will  you  be  on  the  side 
of  wickedness,  which  is  drawing  down  curses  upon  England? 
Yes,  every  wicked  act  tends  to  draw  down  a  curse  upon  the 
country,  and  in  that  sense  is  the  worst  of  treasons.  Every 
good  act  on  the  contrary,  every  holy  feeling,  every  true 
prayer,  every  victory  over  our  baser  appetites,  every  sacrifice 
of  our  will  to  the  law  of  God, — every  such  act  adds  another 
stone  to  the  spiritual  rampart,  which  for  so  many  years  has 
surrounded  and  defended  England.  That  rampart  every 
one  amongst  us  is  either  building  up  or  pulling  down.  If 
the  evil  in  the  struggle  overpower  the  good, — and  every 
single  desertion  from  good  to  evil  makes  the  contest  harder 
and  more  desperate, — if,  I  say,  the  evil  should  at  last  over- 
power the  good, — should  the  rampart  of  justice  and  holiness 
be  overthrown,  think  what  a  deluge  of  wickedness  will  pour 
in  !  and  wherever  wickedness  makes  its  way,  misery  and 
woe  follow  at  its  heels.  If  you  would  avoid  this  misery, 
labour  to  repair  the  breaches  in  the  rampart ;  lest  the  words 
be  spoken  to  us,  which  were  spoken  formerly  to  Ezekiel, 
"  And  I  sought  for  a  man  among  them  that  should  make 
up  the  liedge  and  stand  in  the  gap  before  me  for  the  land, 
that  I  should  not  destroy  it ;  but  I  found  none  "  (xxii.  30). 


THE    BEST    CHRISTIAN,    THE    BEST    PATRIOT.  30 1 

May  such  words  never  be  spoken  to  our  country  !  Oocl 
grant  that  England  may  never  be  without  men  to  make  up 
the  hedge,  and  to  stand  in  the  gap  before  the  Lord  !  God 
grant  that  she  may  never  turn  away  from  Him  who  alone 
can  make  up  the  hedge,  who  alone  can  stand  in  the  gap 
before  the  Lord  I 


XXVI. 

LOCK    AND    KEY; 

OR, 

PROPHECY  AND  INTERPRETATION  OF  PROPHECY. 


2  Peter  i.  19—21. 

"We  have  also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy ;  whereunto  ye 
do  well  that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a 
dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  your 
hearts  :  knowing  this  first,  that  no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture 
is  of  any  private  interpretation.  P'or  the  prophecy  came  not 
in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man :  but  holy  men  of  God  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

n^HIS  is  a  hard  text  to  understand  fully  :  but  its  general 
^  meaning  is  clear ;  and  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  ga- 
thering enough  from  it  to  make  a  very  useful  lesson.  St.  Peter 
had  been  speaking  of  the  proofs,  which  he  and  his  brother 
apostles  had  received,  of  our  Saviour's  power  and  greatness. 
He  had  mentioned  the  wonderful  proof  granted  them  when 
Jesus  was  transfigured  "  in  the  holy  mount,"  when  they  were 
eyewitnesses  of  his  brightness  and  majesty,  and  heard  the 
voice  from  heaven  saying,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom 
I  am  well  pleased."  After  urging  this  great  proof,  as  a  man 
would,  who  had  seen  and  heard  such  wonders,  he  goes  on 
to  a  second  proof,  the  proof  from  prophecy.  Of  this  he 
says,  that  Christians  would  do  well  to  give  heed  to  it ;  for 


LOCK    AND    KEY.  3OJ 

that  a  prophecy  is  Uke  a  hght  shinmg  in  a  dark  place,  until 
the  day  dawn.  As  men  burn  a  candle  during  the  night  to 
give  light,  so  was  God  pleased  to  set  up  the  lamp  of  pro- 
phecy in  the  world,  to  save  mankind  from  being  left  in 
total  darkness  during  the  ages  before  the  coming  of  Christ. 
This  was  the  use  of  the  prophecies  before  Christ's  coming. 
They  were  designed  to  preserve  a  sense  of  God's  goodness, 
and  a  recollection  of  his  promises,  to  keep  hope  alive  in  the 
world,  and  to  awaken  men  to  the  expectation  of  some  great 
mercy,  which  God  was  preparing  for  his  people,  and  would 
bring  to  light  in  due  time. 

But  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  had  risen  and  chased 
away  the  darkness,  the  candlelight  was  no  longer  needed. 
Are  we  to  suppose  then,  that  the  prophecies  ceased  to  be  of 
any  use,  when  Jesus  by  his  coming  fulfilled  them  ?  They 
did  indeed  lose  their  former  use  of  being  lights  in  a  dark 
place  ;  but  they  acquired  a  new  use  instead.  They  became 
what  St.  Peter  calls  a  surer  word  ;  that  is,  they  became 
perhaps  the  strongest  of  the  outward  proofs,  the  most 
striking  of  the  external  testimonies  to  the  truth  of  our 
Saviour's  mission. 

Do  you  ask,  what  makes  their  testimony  so  sure?  St. 
Peter  tells  us  :  their  not  being  of  private  interpretation  ;  and 
their  having  been  spoken  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  They  were  not  of  private  interpretation :  that  is, 
they  did  not  refer  merely  to  the  events  of  the  time  and 
place  when  they  were  spoken,  but  they  pointed  far  onward 
into  futurity,  and  had  a  grander  reference  and  application 
to  the  Son  of  God.  Nor  were  the  events  which  they 
pointed  to  so  clear  that  a  man  on  reading  the  prophecy 
could  say,  "  This  means  so  and  so  ;  this  will  be  fulfilled  in 
such  and  such  a  manner."  Even  the  prophet  himself  did 
not  understand  them.  He  spake  as  he  was  moved  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  :  he  gave  utterance  to  the  threats  and  pro- 


304  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

mises  which  God  put  into  his  mouth :  but  how  those  threats 
and  promises  were  to  be  fulfilled,  neither  he  nor  his  hearers 
knew.  So  that  the  prophecies  were  like  a  door  with  a 
curious  lock  or  secret  spring  to  it.  Till  the  secret  of  the 
spring  is  found  out,  till  the  right  key  is  given,  we  may  puzzle 
ourselves  as  long  as  we  please,  but  we  shall  never  open  the 
door.  Before  the  events  took  place,  it  was  impossible  to 
open  the  prophecies,  so  as  to  get  clearly  at  their  meaning. 
People  contrived  to  peep  through  the  chinks,  and  saw  that 
the  sight  within  was  rich  and  glorious  ;  and  with  that  they 
were  forced  to  be  content.  But  when  the  events  came  and 
fitted  the  prophecies,  just  as  the  right  key  fits  the  lock, 
then  the  door  was  unfastened,  and  many  of  the  prophecies 
were  thrown  open,  and  their  meaning,  so  far  as  they  spake 
of  Jesus,  was  made  manifest.  I  say,  many  of  the  prophecies 
were  thrown  open  ;  because  many  are  still  closed.  For  the 
prophecies  must  not  be  compared  to  one  room  with  one 
door,  but  to  a  great  building  with  a  number  of  rooms,  each 
having  its  own  door.  Many  of  these  rooms  have  been  gra- 
ciously thrown  open  to  us  :  we  have  found  them  full  of 
treasure  :  but  others  are  still  shut :  we  have  not  the  right 
key  to  them ;  and  perhaps  we  shall  have  to  wait  for  it  until 
the  end  of  the  world. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  our  concern  is,  not  with  the  prophecies 
which  are  closed  and  dark,  but  with  those  which  are  clear 
and  open.  Of  these  St.  Peter  says,  that  they  are  very  sure: 
in  other  words,  they  are  strong  and  satisfactory  proofs  and 
testimonies  to  the  truth  and  character  of  Christ's  mission, 
testimonies  which  there  is  no  denying,  and  proofs  which 
there  ought  to  be  no  disputing.  For  just  consider,  if  you 
saw  halt-a-dozen  doors  with  as  many  different  locks  to  them, 
so  new  and  strange  that  not  a  smith  in  the  country  could 
make  a  key  to  fit  any  one  of  them,  and  if  a  man  then  came 
with  a  key,  which  fitted  all  these  different  locks,  and  opened 


LOCK    AND    KEY. 


305 


all  the  six  doors, — could  you  doubt  that  his  was  the  right 
key?  Could  you  doubt  that  the  key  had  been  made  for  the 
locks?  Now  this  is  just  the  kind  of  proof  which  the 
prophecies  afford  of  the  truth  and  divinity  of  Jesus.  When 
the  Jewish  nation  was  musing  what  these  prophecies  could 
mean,  our  Saviour  said,  "  Lo  I  come,  to  do  what  is  written 
of  me  in  the  volume  of  the  book."  I  come  to  explain  the 
prophecies,  and  to  fulfil  them.  And  so  he  did.  The 
events  of  his  life  and  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament 
fit  and  tally  together  so  exactly  and  so  wonderfully,  in  so 
many  different  points,  that  it  is  clear  the  agreement  must 
have  been  designed, — designed  by  that  God  who  first 
inspired  the  prophecies,  and  then  sent  his  Son  to  fulfil  them. 
This  is  a  proof  which  it  requires  only  good  plain  sense  and 
an  unprejudiced  mind  to  judge  of.  It  is  a  proof  too  which 
never  wears  out.  It  is  just  as  sure  now,  as  it  was  in  St. 
Peter's  time ;  and  it  will  continue  to  be  no  less  sure  for  a 
thousand,  or  ten  thousand  years  to  come. 

The  weight  of  this  proof  rests  on  two  simple  facts.  One 
is,  that  the  prophecies  were  written  many  hundreds  of  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt ; 
because  the  Jews,  who  are  our  Saviour's  enemies,  have 
always  had  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  in  their 
keeping.  The  other  fact  is,  that  Jesus  died  the  death 
related  in  the  New  Testament.  The  plainest  prophecies 
are  those  which  describe,  not  our  Lord's  actions,  but  his 
passion,  not  his  life,  but  the  manner  of  his  death,  and  his 
patience  under  it,  not  what  he  did,  but  what  he  suffered. 
Therefore  the  only  question  is,  did  Christ  really  suffer  the 
death  recorded  in  the  gospels  ?  Of  this  again  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  The  Jews  cannot  deny,  the  heathens  cannot 
deny,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  crucified  as  a  malefactor 
by  the  Roman  governor  Pilate. 

Here  are  two  certain,  undeniable  facts.     The  date  of  the 

X 


306  '  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

prophecies  is  quite  certain  :  the  death  and  sufferings  of 
Jesus  are  also  quite  certain.  Now  let  any  unprejudiced 
man,  bearing  these  two  facts  in  mind,  read  the  22  nd  Psalm 
and  the  53rd  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  then  the  account  of  our 
Saviour's  trial  and  crucifixion  in  the  four  Gospels ;  and  he 
must  needs  satisfy  himself  that  David  and  Isaiah  must  have 
been  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  when  they  spoke  of  Christ 
ages  before  his  birth,  almost  in  the  very  words  they  would 
have  used  if  they  had  been  eyewitnesses  of  his  death,  and 
had  written  after  the  event,  instead  of  hundreds  of  years 
before  it.  For  we  all  know, — the  plainest  man  knows  just 
as  well  as  the  most  learned, — that  such  knowledge  is  too 
wonderful  and  excellent  for  mortal  man ;  he  cannot  attain 
to  it.  It  is  not  within  the  powers  of  man  to  tell  for  certain 
even  what  a  day  may  bring  forth  :  but  to  see  the  future,  to 
speak  of  it  as  if  it  were  lying  before  our  eyes,  to  describe 
what  is  to  happen  upon  earth  ages  after  we  have  mouldered 
in  our  coffins,  what  man  can  pretend  to  a  power  of  this 
kind  ?  This  is  the  prerogative  of  God.  He,  and  he  alone, 
can  tell  what  is  to  happen  :  because  he  alone  has  the 
ordering  of  events,  and  calls  them  out  of  the  womb  of  time, 
at  the  moment  and  in  the  manner  that  seems  best  to  him. 
He  alone  can  tell  what  will  be  :  because  he  alone  can 
command  what  shall  be.  Accordingly  when  God  in  Scrip- 
ture is  shewing  the  vanity  and  weakness  of  the  heathen 
idols,  he  calls  on  them,  if  they  are  really  gods,  to  prove 
themselves  such  by  this  very  power  of  prophesying  and 
foretelling.  "  Declare  us  things  to  come  (he  says  to  them), 
shew  the  things  that  are  to  come  hereafter,  that  we  may 
know  that  ye  are  gods."  (Isaiah  xli.  22.)  When  we  see  a 
mortal  man  therefore  possessed  of  this  divine  power,  and 
employing  it,  as  the  prophets  of  old  did,  to  the  glory  of 
God,  can  we  doubt  that  he  must  have  received  this  power 
as  a  gift  from  God  himself  ?    Can  there  be  a  doubt  that  the 


LOCK    AND    KEY.  307 


prophecies  came  not  by  the  will  of  man,  but  that  holy  men 
of  God  must  have  spoken  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  ? 

Thus  far  I  have  been  explaining  the  nature  of  that  proof 
and  evidence  from  prophecy,  which  St.  Peter  speaks  of  as 
so  very  sure.  That  you  may  better  understand  the  matter, 
I  will  illustrate  it  by  going  through  the  53rd  chapter  of 
Isaiah,  to  which  I  have  already  referred  you,  and  comparing 
it  with  the  accounts  of  our  Saviour  in  the  New  Testament. 
For  it  is  only  by  looking  closely  at  this  chapter,  and  taking 
it  verse  by  verse,  that  you  can  discover  how  accurate  the 
description,  and  consequently  how  perfect  the  proof  is. 
This  chapter  is  a  continuation  of  the  52nd,  in  which  the 
prophet  speaks  of  the' Lord's  redeeming  his  people  without 
money,  of  his  comforting  his  people  and  of  his  making  bare 
his  holy  arm  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  nations.  It  is  after 
declaring  these  glorious  promises,  that  Isaiah  breaks  out  in 
the  first  verse  of  the  53rd  chapter,  into  that  mournful  ques- 
tion, "  Who  hath  beHeved  our  report  ?  and  to  whom  is  the 
arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  ?"  In  vain  do  I  make  you  all 
these  promises,  says  God ;  you  will  not  believe  them :  in 
vain  do  I  shew  you  my  glorious  arm ;  you  shut  your  eyes 
against  it.  Such  is  the  first  prophecy  in  this  chapter :  and 
was  it  not  fulfilled?  When  Jesus  came  in  the  fulness  of 
time,  did  not  the  Jews  disbelieve  and  reject  him?  With 
an  express  reference  to  the  prophecy,  St.  John  says,  though 
he  had  done  so  many  miracles  before  them,  yet  they  believed 
not  on  him ;  that  the  saying  of  Esaias  the  prophet  might  be 
fulfilled,  which  he  spake,  "  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our 
report?"  (xii.  37,  ^S).  In  vain  was  the  arm  of  the  Lord 
made  bare  :  in  vain  was  the  eternal  Son  of  God  revealed  to 
his  people.  They  shut  their  eyes  against  him,  and  would 
not  acknowledge  him. 

Now  how  did  this  come  to  pass?      Isaiah  tells  us  in  the 


308  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

second  verse.  "  For  he  shall  grow  up  before  him  as  a 
tender  plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground :  he  hath  no 
form  nor  comeliness ;  and  when  we  shall  see  him,  there  is 
no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  him."  This  is  the  reason 
why  Jesus  was  rejected :  because  he  came  in  a  humble  garb, 
with  none  of  those  outward  marks  of  royalty,  which  the 
Jews  were  fondly  looking  for.  Therefore,  says  Isaiah,  they 
will  reject  him.  Such  is  the  second  prophecy :  and  was 
not  this  too  fulfilled  ?  Did  not  Jesus  come  in  the  form  of 
a  servant,  and  make  himself  of  no  reputation  ?  and  is  it  not 
further  true,  that  on  this  very  account  the  Jews  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  his  preaching,  and  would  not  believe  in  him? 
Hear  what  St.  Mark  says  :  "  Many  hearing  him  were  asto- 
nished, saying.  From  whence  hath  this  man  these  things  ? 
and  what  wisdom  is  this  which  is  given  to  him,  that  even 
such  mighty  works  are  wrought  by  his  hands  ?  Is  not  this 
the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary  ?  And  they  were  offended 
at  him."  (Mark  vi.  2,  3.) 

Thus  far  the  prophecy  and  the  event  agree  exactly.  Let 
us  see  what  comes  next.  "  He  is  despised  and  rejected  of 
men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief;  and  we 
hid  as  it  were  our  faces  from  him  ;  he  was  despised,  and  we 
esteemed  him  not."  This  is  so  undeniable,  it  is  so  certain 
from  every  page  of  the  New  Testament  that  Jesus  was  a 
man  of  sorrows,  that  he  was  afflicted  with  all  the  afflictions 
which  can  befall  mortal  man,  sin,  and  those  which  spring 
from  sin,  alone  excepted, — it  is  so  certain  that  he  was  treated 
with  the  utmost  scorn,  that  he  was  rejected  by  those  whom 
he  came  to  save,  that  he  was  cast  out  and  driven  from  place 
to  place,  and  lastly  that  the  wicked  cruelty  of  his  murderers 
was  embittered  by  their  insolent  brutal  mockery, — all  this 
is  so  certain,  that  there  can  be  no  necessity  for  me  to  enter 
into  any  details  on  this  point. 

But  perhaps  you  will  ask,  how  it  happened  that  the  Son 


LOCK    AND    KEY. 


309 


of  God  came  to  us  without  form  or  comeliness  ?  how  it 
happened  that,  when  the  arm  of  the  Lord  was  revealed,  it 
was  not  revealed  in  its  power  and  glory,  but  in  the  humble 
shape  of  the  carpenter  of  Nazareth  ?  If  we  look  into  this 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  we  shall  see  the  reason  in  the  4th,  5  th, 
and  6th  verses.  "  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and 
carried  our  sorrows :  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken, 
smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions  ;  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities  ;  the  chas- 
tisement of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes 
we  are  healed.  All  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone  astray ;  we 
have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way ;  and  the  Lord  hath 
laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  This,  my  brethren,  is 
the  reason  of  Christ's  humiliation.  For  our  sakes  he  went 
through  all :  that  we  might  be  healed,  he  suffered  stripes  : 
that  we  might  be  forgiven,  he  was  bruised  and  wounded  : 
sinless  himself,  he  was  made  a  sin-offering  for  us  :  he  bore 
the  punishment  of  the  iniquity  of  all  the  sons  of  men.  To 
the  same  effect  is  that  verse  in  the  40th  Psalm  :  "  My  sins 
have  taken  such  hold  on  me,  that  I  am  not  able  to  look  up ; 
they  are  more  in  number  than  the  hairs  of  my  head  :  and 
my  strength  hath  failed  me."  Compare  these  prophecies 
with  the  account  of  the  agony  in  the  garden,  where  drops  of 
bloody  sweat  fell  from  our  Saviour's"  forehead  :  and  then 
determine  whether  they  too  have  not  been  wholly  fulfilled. 
When  we  cry  to  our  Lord  in  the  Litany  to  deliver  us,  you 
know  we  call  upon  him,  among  other  things,  "  by  his  agony 
and  bloody  sweat ;  "  thus  reminding  him  of  what  he  under- 
went for  the  sake  of  fallen  man,  and  beseeching  him  to 
perfect  the  work  he  there  began  for  us,  that  his  grievous 
sufferings  may  not  have  been  in  vain.  For  whenever  any 
one  dies  in  his  sins,  Christ  has  suffered  in  vain,  so  far  as 
that  person  is  concerned.  He  might  as  well  have  stayed  in 
heaven,  for  any  good  his  agony  can  do  to  the  unrepenting 


3IO  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


sinner.  Nay,  better  would  it  be  for  the  stubborn,  impenitent 
sinner,  that  Christ  had  never  come  at  all.  Better  would  it 
be  for  him,  that  there  had  been  no  agony,  no  cross,  no 
sacrifice  for  sins,  no  offer  of  peace  and  pardon,  than  that  the 
offer  should  be  rejected,  and  the  sacrifice  slighted,  and  the 
cross  and  agony  of  the  Son  of  God  declared  to  him,  without 
moving  his  soul  to  repentance.  The  word  is  sad ;  but  it  is 
most  true.  It  would  have  been  better  for  the  sinner  that 
Christ  had  never  come,  than  that  he  should  have  come,  and 
that  the  sinner  should  reject  him.  But  to  reject  his  offered 
pardon  is  to  reject  him ;  to  reject  his  love  is  to  reject  him  ; 
to  reject  his  doctrine  is  to  reject  him  ;  to  reject  his  laws  is 
to  reject  him.  Let  not  the  sinner  say,  "  I  have  no  such 
wicked  meaning.  I  have  no  thought  of  disowning  or  reject- 
ing Christ :  I  acknowledge  him  to  be  my  Lord  and  Master." 
Hold,  sinner,  and  consider  what  you  are  saying.  You  have 
no  thought  of  rejecting  Christ?  Beware  then  that  you  are 
not  doing  worse ;  beware  that  you  are  not  mocking  and  in- 
sulting him.  Remember  the  Roman  soldiers.  They  even 
bowed  their  knees,  and  put  a  royal  robe  on  him,  and  set  a 
crown  on  his  head  :  yet  all  this  was  only  mockery;  and  the 
crown  was  a  crown  of  thorns.  Alas  !  the  lip-service  of  the 
bold  sinner  is  a  worse  mockery,  and  goes  more  to  his  heart ; 
the  sins  of  the  believer  are  sharper  thorns  to  him  than  any 
his  crown  was  made  of.  They  strike  a  bitter  wound,  and 
pierce  deeper.  To  come  into  Christ's  presence,  and  say  you 
believe  in  him,  and  afterwards  by  your  works  to  deny  it, — is 
not  this  mockery  ?  is  not  this  downright  insult  ?  is  it  not 
ingratitude  and  treason  against  your  benefactor  and  your 
King  ?  That  dreadful  night  of  the  agony  was  the  night  of 
the  power  of  darkness.  Among  the  temptations  which  the 
tempter  then  employed  against  Jesus,  few  could  have  been 
more  cutting,  than  the  thoughts  of  the  multitudes  of  human 
beings  to  whom  his  Gospel  would  be  preached  in  vain,  to 


LOCK    AND    KEY.  311 


whom  his  sufferings  would  bring  no  healing,  on  whom  his 
death  would  only  draw  down  a  greater  weight  of  wrath  and 
condemnation.  Cannot  you  conceive  the  tempter  urging 
him  with  some  such  crafty  words  as  these  ?  "  Why  should 
you  suffer  all  these  things,  thou  well-meaning  but  mistaken 
Jesus  ?  Think  of  the  thousands  who  will  never  be  the  better 
for  your  death.  Think  of  the  thousands  who  will  be  the 
worse  for  your  death.  Think  of  all  those  who  will  be 
encouraged  to  sin  on,  by  the  trust  that  you  have  bought 
their  pardon.  Think  of  all  those  to  whom  your  Gospel  will 
bring,  not  life,  but  death, — not  pardon,  but  condemnation. 
With  such  malicious  thoughts  may  we  conceive  the 
father  of  lies  to  have  assailed  Jesus  in  that  hour  of  bitter- 
ness :  and  the  woe  is,  there  was  some  truth  in  them  ;  and 
that  truth  wrought  like  the  barb  of  a  poisoned  arrow  :  it 
made  the  thought  stick  in  the  heart  of  Jesus  and  rankle 
there.  For  undoubtedly  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  when 
it  is  not  a  savour  of  life  unto  life,  is  a  savour  of  death  unto 
death.  If  men  do  not  become  better  and  happier  by  it, 
they  become  more  wicked  and  more  wretched.  If  they  do 
not  become  true  Christians  in  heart  and  life,  they  become 
worse  than  heathens. 

This  perhaps  may  have  been  the  weight  which  pressed 
the  most  heavily  on  the  soul  of  the  tender-hearted  Jesus 
during  his  agony.  Would  God  that,  as  these  thoughts 
pressed  on  his  mind,  so  they  would  press  on  ours ! 
Would  God,  the  thought  of  the  great  misery  laid  up 
for  an  unrepentant  sinner  which  shook  and  wrung  the 
soul  of  Jesus,  so  that  an  angel  was  sent  to  comfort  him, — 
would  God,  this  same  thought  would  shake  and  wring  every 
living  sinner,  and  haunt  him  day  and  night,  and  give  him 
no  respite,  till  he  were  frightened  and  driven  out  of  his  sins, 
and  brought  to  lead  a  holy  life  !  Bad  as  are  the  pains  of  an 
.awakened  conscience,  a  sleeping  conscience  is  far  worse. 


312  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

For  you  must  awake  some  time.  If  you  do  not  come  to 
yourself  before  you  are  put  into  the  grave,  you  must  after. 
Here  it  is  only  the  smart  of  a  wound,  which,  however 
painful,  is  sure  to  be  cured,  if  you  put  the  proper  salve  to  it. 
After  death  the  wound  is  incurable.  The  God  of  truth  hath 
spoken  it,  of  all  that  die  in  their  wickedness :  their  worm 
shall  never  die.  Anything  but  that,  O  Lord  !  anything  but 
that  for  the  souls  thou  hast  committed  to  my  charge  !  Rather 
let  our  sins  lay  hold  upon  us  in  this  world,  and  press  us 
down  with  shame  and  sorrow,  that  we  may  all  turn  to  thee 
while  thou  art  to  be  found,  and  may  obtain  forgiveness 
of  the  past,  and  the  help  of  the  blessed  Comforter  to 
heal  us,  and  purify  us,  and  strengthen  us  for  the  time  to 
come,  that  we  may  love  thee  and  obey  thee  as  we  ought 
to  do  ! 

But  let  us  return  to  Isaiah.  Enough  has  been  said  to 
prove  the  fulfilment  of  the  4th,  5th  and  6th  verses  of  the 
prophecy,  which  declare  that  the  Messiah  was  to  bear  our 
griefs  and  to  carry  our  sorrows,  and  that  the  Lord  would  lay 
on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  Now  observe  what  comes 
next ;  for  the  prophecy  grows  more  particular  and  remark- 
able as  it  goes  on.  The  next  verses,  as  rendered  by  the 
learned  Bishop  Lowth,  are  as  follows  : — "  It  was  exacted, 
and  he  was  made  answerable,  and  he  opened  not  his  mouth. 
He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter ;  and  as  a  sheep 
before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth. 
By  an  oppressive  judgmxcnt  he  was  taken  off;  and  who 
shall  declare  his  generation  ?  for  he  was  cut  off  from  the 
land  of  the  living  ;  for  the  transgression  of  my  people  was 
he  smitten."  In  these  verses  we  are  told,  first,  that  the 
Messiah,  the  promised  Christ,  was  to  be  made  answerable 
for  a  sum  that  was  required ;  secondly,  that  he  was  to  be 
taken  off  by  an  oppressive  or  unjust  sentence ;  thirdly,  that 
he  was  dumb  and  patient  before  his  judges ;  fourthly,  that 


LOCK    AND    KEY.  313 


he  was  to  be  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  to 
be  cut  off  for  the  sins  of  God's  people.  Here  are  four 
very  extraordinary  assertions;  yet  they  are  all  fulfilled  in 
Jesus. 

In  the  first  place,  he  was  made  answerable ;  for  what  ? 
Isaiah  does  not  tell  us.  He  only  says,  "  it  was  exacted." 
Look  into  St.  Paul  however,  and  you  will  find  what  was 
exacted.  The  ransom  of  the  world, — the  price  of  our  sal- 
vation. For  this  was  Jesus  made  answerable.  It  was  exacted 
from  him ;  and  he  paid  it  to  the  uttermost,  with  the  trea- 
sure of  his  most  precious  blood.  For  this  reason  St.  Paul 
admonishes  us  that  we  may  not  do  as  we  please  with  our- 
selves ;  for  that  "  we  are  not  our  own,  but  Christ's,"  seeing 
that  "we  are  bought  with  a  price."  (i  Cor.  vi.  19,  20.) 

The  second  thing  foretold  of  the  Messiah  in  these  two 
verses  is,  that  he  was  to  be  taken  off  by  an  oppressive  or 
unjust  sentence.  Can  anything  be  truer  ?  Could  Isaiah  have 
expressed  himself  more  accurately  if  he  had  written  after 
the  crucifixion  ?  Was  not  the  sentence  against  Jesus  utterly 
oppressive  and  unjust  ?  What  did  Pilate  say,  before  he  gave 
him  up  to  be  executed  ?  "I  find  no  fault  in  him  : "  so  we 
learn  from  St.  Luke  and  St.  John.  "  I  am  innocent  of  the 
blood  of  this  just  person  : "  so  we  read  in  St.  Matthew. 
Here  the  judge  himself,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  is 
dehvering  Jesus  up  to  a  most  shameful  and  bitter  death, 
declares  the  injustice  of  his  own  sentence,  the  cruelty  of  his 
own  conduct. 

The  third  thing  prophesied  of  the  Messiah  in  these  two 
verses  is,  that  he  was  to  be  dumb  and  patient  before  his 
judges.  Now  this  is  not  usual,  not  likely,  not  natural.  Inno- 
cent men  do  not  commonly  submit  to  a  lawless  and  cruel 
sentence,  without  doing  their  best  to  defend  themselves,  and 
trying  to  clear  their  characters  at  least,  if  not  to  save  their 
lives.     Yet  this  too  was  fulfilled  in  the  trial  of  Jesus,  as 


314  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

exactly  as  all  the  rest.  We  read  in  St.  Matthew,  that,  when 
the  council  brought  false  witnesses  against  Jesus,  that  they 
might  have  something  to  lay  to  his  charge,  Jesus  "  held  his 
peace ; "  not  from  pride  and  stubbornness  of  spirit,  but,  as 
he  himself  tells  us  (Luke  xxii.  67,  68),  because  he  knew  that, 
if  he  told  them  the  truth,  they  would  not  believe  him,  and 
that  if  he  asked  them  questions,  or  tried  to  argue  with  them 
out  of  the  Scriptures,  they  would  neither  answer  him,  nor 
let  him  go.  It  was  not  until  the  high-priest  adjured  him  by 
the  living  God,  to  tell  them  whether  he  was  the  Christ,  that 
Jesus  made  that  noble  answer,  of  which  it  is  hard  to  say 
whether  we  ought  most  to  admire  its  mildness  or  its  courage. 
"  Thou  hast  said :  nevertheless  I  say  unto  you,  Hereafter 
shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of 
power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  (Matt.  xxvi. 
64.)  It  was  written  in  the  Book  of  Daniel,  that  one  like  the 
Son  of  man  should  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven.  The 
Jewish  priests  therefore  were  bound  to  believe  that  such  a 
sight  would  one  day  be  vouchsafed  to  them.  Had  they 
cared  for  justice,  they  would  have  given  Jesus  an  oppor- 
tunity of  justifying  himself,  by  asking  what  proof  he  could 
offer  of  his  being  the  Son  of  man.  Then  might  he  have 
appealed  to  his  mighty  works.  There  would  have  been  no 
want  of  witnesses.  Blind  Bartimeus  restored  to  sight,  the 
centurion's  servant  raised  from  the  bed  of  sickness,  the 
impotent  man  released  by  a  few  words  from  the  infirmity 
which  had  crippled  him  for  thirty-eight  years;  above  all, 
Lazarus  raised  out  of  the  grave  after  he  had  been  four  days 
dead.  Here  would  have  been  proofs  of  divine  power  so 
manifest,  that,  though  they  would  not  have  convinced  or 
converted  his  enemies,  they  might  perhaps  have  shamed 
them  into  silence.  But  no :  the  judges  gave  him  no  such 
opportunity  of  proving  his  mission.  They  stop  him  with  the 
cry,  "He  hath  spoken  blasphemy  ! "  they  condemn  him  to 


LOCK    AND    KEY.  315 


die,  and  send  him  bound  to  Pilate.  Here  the  same  scene 
of  silence  is  repeated.  "  When  he  was  accused  by  the  chief 
priests,  he  answered  nothing.  Then  said  Pilate  to  him, 
Hearest  thou  not  how  many  things  they  witness  against 
thee  ?  And  he  answered  him  never  a  word,  insomuch  that 
the  governor  marvelled  greatly."  In  St.  John  indeed  we 
read  of  his  speaking  more  than  once  to  Pilate ;  but  that  was 
in  private,  and  apparently  not  for  his  own  sake,  but  for 
Pilate's.  Against  the  public  accusations  of  his  countrymen 
he  made  no  more  answer  or  defence  before  Pilate,  than  he 
had  made  before  the  priests.  Thus  dumb  was  Jesus,  as 
Isaiah  prophesied  he  was  to  be.  And  was  he  not  also 
patient?  He  who,  when  Peter  had  denied  him  thrice, 
only  looked  upon  him ;  he  who,  when  he  was  suffering 
all  the  tortures  of  the  cross,  prayed  to  his  Father  for  his 
murderers. 

The  fourth  thing  mentioned  in  these  two  verses  is,  that 
he  was  to  be  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  to  be 
cut  off  for  the  sins  of  God's  people.  Hear  what  St.  Peter 
says :  "  He  did  no  sin ;  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth ; 
who,  when  he  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again,  but  committed 
his  cause  to  him  that  judgeth  righteously;  who  his  own  selt 
bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree."  (i  Pet.  ii.  22, 
23.)  But  why  is  it  said  that  he  was  to  be  brought  as  a  lamb 
to  the  slaughter?  At  first  sight  this  might  seem  to  refer 
only  to  his  innocence  and  his  meekness.  But  the  expression 
has  a  further  and  a  deeper  meaning.  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,"  said  John  the  Baptist  of  him,  "which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world  ! "  In  this  sense,  above  all  others,  is 
Jesus  the  Lamb.  He  is  the  Lamb  ordained  to  death  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  As  it  is  beautifully  expressed  in 
the  Communion  Service,  he  is  the  very  paschal  Lamb,  which 
was  offered  for  us,  and  hath  taken  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 
It  is  as  being  a  sacrifice,  no  less  than  for  his  purity,  that 


31 6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Jesus  is  likened  by  Isaiah  to  a  lamb.  He  was,  what  the  law 
of  Moses  required  the  paschal  lamb  to  be,  without  blemish. 

The  next  agreement  is  perhaps  still  more  marvellous. 
"And  his  grave  was  permitted  with  the  wicked,"  says 
Isaiah,  *'  and  with  the  rich  man  was  his  tombP  For  that 
is  the  true  translation,  and  not,  as  our  Bible  has  it,  "  in  his 
death."  Here  again  the  prophecy  could  scarcely  be  more 
accurate,  if  it  had  been  written  after  the  event.  For  Jesus 
did  indeed  go  down  to  the  grave  with  the  wicked ;  or  as 
the  last  verse  of  the  chapter  expresseth  it,  ''  he  poured  out 
his  soul  unto  death,  and  was  numbered  with  the  trans- 
gressors." He  died  as  a  criminal  between  two  thieves. 
But  where  did  he  afterward  find  a  tomb  ?  Not  with  the 
transgressors,  not  with  the  wicked ;  but,  O  wonderful  fulfil- 
ment of  a  most  strange  prophecy  ! — "  when  the  evening  was 
come  "  (these  are  St.  Matthew's  words),  "  there  came  a  rich 
man  of  Arimathea,  named  Joseph,  who  also  himself  was 
Jesus'  disciple  ;  he  went  to  Pilate  and  begged  the  body  of 
Jesus,  and  laid  it  in  his  own  new  tomb,  which  he  had  hewn 
out  in  the  rock."  Thus  was  this  prophecy  accomplished  to 
the  letter  :  thus  did  Jesus,  after  dying  with  the  transgressors, 
receive  a  tomb  with  the  rich. 

Isaiah,  then,  as  if  for  fear  of  being  misunderstood, — for 
fear  any  one  should  imagine  that  the  wonderful  person,  of 
whom  he  has  been  speaking  throughout  the  chapter,  had 
done  something  worthy  of  death,  and  deserved  to  be  counted 
as  a  transgressor, — repeats  himself,  and  again  declares  that 
all  this  befell  him,  though  he  had  done  no  wrong,  neither 
was  there  guile  found  in  his  mouth ;  because  it  '*  pleased 
Jehovah  to  crush  him  with  affliction."  Was  God  unmerci- 
ful or  unjust  in  this  ?  Far,  far  from  it.  For,  as  the  prophet 
gives  us  to  understand  in  the  very  next  words,  it  was  done 
with  the  Messiah's  own  consent.  The  words,  when  righdy 
translated,  are  as  follows  :  "  When  his  soul  shall  make  an 


LOCK    AND    KEY. 


317 


offering  for  sin."  It  was  the  Messiah's  soul  or  life  then, 
that  is,  the  Messiah  himself,  that  was  to  make  this  offering. 
Was  not  this  too  accomplished  ?  was  not  Jesus  willing  to 
die  for  mankind  ?  Hear  his  own  words  :  *'  Therefore  doth 
my  Father  love  me,  because  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the 
sheep.  No  man  taketh  it  from  me ;  but  I  lay  it  down  of 
myself."  God  then  was  not  unjust  in  emptying  the  vial  of 
his  wrath  upon  Jesus ;  nor  was  he  unmerciful  in  doing  so. 
On  the  contrary  it  was  the  greatest  act  of  mercy  that  could 
be.  For  why  did  Jesus  die  ?  For  our  sakes.  The  punish- 
ment which  was  due  to  us,  he  vouchsafed  to  take  upon  him- 
self; and  so,  through  the  voluntary  sin-offering  of  this  one 
holy  victim,  thousands  upon  thousands  have  been  made 
righteous,  have  been  forgiven,  have  been  purified  from  their 
offences,  and  raised  to  everlasting  life. 

Nor  was  the  Messiah  himself  a  loser  by  his  sufferings, 
and  by  his  wondrous  love,  as  Isaiah  plainly  declares  in  the 
last  three  verses  of  our  chapter,  which  in  Bishop  Lowth's 
translation  stand  thus  :  "When  his  soul  shall  make  an 
offering  for  sin,  he  shall  see  a  seed  which  shall  prolong  their 
days,  and  the  gracious  purpose  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in 
his  hand.  Of  the  travail  of  his  soul  he  shall  see  the  fruit, 
and  shall  be  satisfied.  By  the  knowledge  of  him  shall  my 
righteous  servant  justify  many;  for  the  punishment  of  their 
iniquities  shall  he  bear.  Therefore  will  I  distribute  to  him 
the  many  for  his  portion ;  and  the  mighty  people  shall  he 
share  for  his  spoil ;  because  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto 
death,  and  was  numbered  with  the  transgressors,  and  bare 
the  sins  of  many,  and  made  intercession  for  the  transgres- 
sors." The  time  will  not  allow  me  to  go  minutely  into  the 
fulfilment  of  these  last  three  verses  :  nor  is  it  needful ;  for 
you  yourselves  see  their  fulfihiient.  Has  not  God  the 
Father  highly  exalted  Jesus,  that  at  his  name  millions  of 
knees  have  bowed  this  very  day  ?     Does  not  Christ  see  a 


3l8  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

seed  which  shall  prolong  their  days  far  beyond  the  grave  ? 
Has  not  God's  gracious  purpose  prospered  in  his  hand?  It 
has,  it  has.  Bear  witness,  ye  multitudes  in  every  age,  who 
have  been  weaned  from  sin  by  the  doctrines  of  the  blessed 
Jesus.  Bear  witness,  ye  innumerable  servants  of  his,  who 
have  felt  and  declared  that  ye  were  reconciled  to  God 
through  the  blood  of  his  dear  Son, — declared  it,  not  with 
your  lips  alone, — O  no  !  ye  have  declared  it  by  your  lives, 
by  your  holiness,  by  your  humiHty,  by  your  patience,  by 
your  diligence  in  every  good  work,  by  that  inward  peace  of 
heart  and  conscience,  which  the  world  can  neither  give  nor 
take  away.  By  these  proofs  have  ye  shewn  in  all  ages,  ye 
servants  of  the  holy  Jesus,  that  the  promise  of  the  pro- 
phet has  been  gloriously  fulfilled,  that  the  gracious  purpose 
of  the  God  of  heaven  has  indeed  prospered  in  the  hands 
of  his  Messiah.  For  what  is  that  purpose,  dearly  beloved 
brethren  ?  St.  Paul  tells  us  in  half-a-dozen  words :  "  The 
will  of  God  is  your  sanctification."  His  gracious  purpose 
in  sending  his  Son  into  the  world  was  to  bring  back  the 
children  of  men  to  their  duty  and  allegiance.  When 
they  are  persuaded  to  come  to  him  that  he  may  give  them 
life,  then  is  the  will  of  God  accomplished,  and  his  gracious 
purpose  prosperously  fulfilled.  My  brethren,  will  you  not 
do  your  parts  to  fulfil  God's  gracious  purpose  ?  The  Father 
is  willing  and  ready ;  the  Holy  Ghost  is  willing  and  ready : 
Christ  has  done  his  part.  The  price  is  paid  :  the  iniquity 
has  been  borne :  the  door  of  reconciliation  here,  and  of 
heaven  after  death,  has  been  thrown  wide  open  to  you. 
Will  you  not  do  your  parts?  Will  you  not  come  and 
take  the  life,  which  Jesus  has  bought  for  you  with  so  much 
suffering  ?     Will  you  not  return  to  God? 

Thus  have  we  examined  this  prophecy  of  Isaiah  verse 
by  verse.  We  have  seen  every  part  of  it  fulfilled  in  the  life 
of  Jesus.     Such  an  agreement,  so  accurate,  so  wonderful,  in 


LOCK    AND    KKY. 


SO  many  points,  cannot  possibly  be  accidental.  Therefore 
in  Jesus  we  have  the  true  key  for  the  prophetic  lock  :  and 
Isaiah,  who  foretold  all  these  things  so  many  hundred  years 
before,  must  assuredly  have  spoken,  as  St.  Peter  says,  not 
of  his  own  will,  but  as  he  was  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 


XXVII. 
PRINCIPLES  ABOVE  RULES; 

OR, 
WHEAT  IS  BETTER  THAN  BREAD. 

COLOSSIANS  ii.  20. 

If  ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the  world, 
why,  as  though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye  subject  to  ordi- 
nances ? 

'"PHE  ordinances  here  spoken  of  are  the  ordinances  of  the 
-■-  law  of  Moses,  which  were  only  designed  for  a  certain 
people,  and  for  a  certain  time.  They  were  designed  for 
the  Jewish  people, — for  that  people  out  of  which  in  the  full- 
ness of  time  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  to  spring :  and 
they  were  designed  to  hold  that  people  together,  and  to  keep 
the  expectation  of  the  Saviour  alive  in  it,  until  the  Saviour 
himself  came,  to  fulfil  the  law,  and  by  fulfilling  it  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  downfall  of  all  such  parts  of  it  as  had 
merely  been  intended  for  their  particular  nation  and  age. 
Now  this  is  a  point  in  which  there  is  a  great  and  striking 
difference  between  the  law  of  Moses  and  the  law  of  the 
Gospel.  One  of  the  chief  excellences  of  the  precepts  which 
we  find  in  the  New  Testament,  is,  that  they  reach  far  beyond 
the  occasions  and  purposes  they  were  originally  laid  down 
for ;  so  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  changes  which  have  taken 


PRINCIPLES    ABOVE    RULES.  321 


place  in  the  world  since,  they  are  many  of  them  appHcablc 
to  the  letter,  and  all  are  still  applicable  in  their  spirit,  at 
this  very  day.  If  you  bear  in  mind  that  near  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  have  gone  by  since  the  apostles  wrote  those 
letters  to  the  christian  churches  of  their  age,  which  we  are 
wont  to  call  Epistles,  you  will  join  with  me  in  wondering, 
not  that  there  should  be  a  few  sayings  here  and  there  in 
them  dark  and  hard  to  be  understood,  but  that  there  should 
be  such  a  vast  number  of  verses  in  them,  every  word  ov' 
which  we  may  still  apply  to  ourselves,  to  the  purifying  of 
our  hearts,  and  the  building  up  of  our  souls,  and  the  shaping 
of  our  lives. 

Now  to  what  is  this  excellence  owing  ?  In  other  words, 
what  is  the  peculiar  character  of  the  precepts  laid  down  in 
the  New  Testament,  in  consequence  of  which  they  do  not 
pass  away,  like  the  ordinances  of  the  law  of  Moses,  but 
spread  from  land  to  land,  and  are  handed  down  from  gene- 
ration to  generation,  and,  wherever  the  Gospel  is  known, 
serve  as  a  guide  of  life  and  practice  to  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  mankind  ?  Their  peculiar  character  is,  that  the 
apostles,  doing  as  their  Master  had  done  before  them,  when 
they  gave  a  rule  for  what  was  to  be  done  in  any  case  or  on 
any  occasion,  were  not  satisfied  with  giving  the  bare  rule, 
but  to  the  rule  added  the  principle,  which  was  the  ground 
of  its  wholesomeness  and  worth.  Now  between  a  mere 
rule,  which  is  the  applying  of  a  principle  to  some  particular 
case,  and  the  principle  itself,  there  is  just  the  same  sort  of 
difference  as  between  bread  and  wheat.  Let  me  beg  you  to 
attend  to  this  comparison,  on  which  I  mean  to  dwell  for  a 
while,  as  I  hope  by  the  help  of  it  to  render  an  important 
truth  clear  and  almost  easy  to  you. 

A  rule,  which  has  been  drawn  up  for  any  particular  pur- 
pose, may  be  likened  to  a  loaf  of  bread  :  a  principle  on  the 
other  hand  is  like  a  handful  of  wheat.     Every  rule  that  is 

Y 


322  *THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

worth  anything  must  be  taken,  from  a  principle,  just  as  a 
loaf  of  bread  is  made  of  wheat.  For  the  wants  and  uses  of 
the  moment  a  rule  is  more  serviceable  than  a  principle  ; 
jast  as,  when  a  man  is  hungry,  bread  is  more  welcome  than 
wheat.  For  bread  is  wheat  ready  prepared  for  the  sake  of 
satisfying  hunger :  we  have  only  to  take  and  eat  it.  Hence 
for  a  hungry  man  a  crust  of  bread  is  better  and  handier 
than  so  much  unground  wheat.  Yet  will  anybody  say  on 
this  account  that  bread  is  a  better  thing  than  wheat? 
Suppose  a  man  were  going  to  some  far  country,  where  no 
com  grows,  which  would  he  take  with  him?  bread,  or 
wheat  ?  Suppose  a  sailor  were  thrown  with  his  family  on  a 
desert  island^  which  would  he  wish  for  ?  for  bread,  or  for 
wheat  ?  Assuredly  a  single  handful  of  wheat  would  be  a 
greater  godsend  to  the  poor  castaway  than  a  whole  shipload 
of  bread.  Why  so  ?  because  he  could  plant  the  wheat,  and 
could  not  plant  the  bread.  The  bread  after  a  time  would 
get  mouldy  and  be  spoilt.  The  v/heat,  if  it  were  sown,  and 
proper  care  taken  of  it,  would  grow,  and  flourish,  and 
spread,  until  large  fields  were  covered  with  it :  and  genera- 
tion after  generation  might  be  fed  with  the  produce  of  the 
single  handful. 

This  is  the  great  advantage  which  wheat  has  over  bread. 
Bread  may  feed  us  for  the  moment ;  but,  when  once  eaten, 
it  is  gone  for  ever.  Wheat  on  the  contrary  will  bear  seed  : 
it  will  increase  and  multiply  :  after  one  crop  has  had  its 
day,  and  been  reaped,  and  stored  in  the  barn,  and  consumed, 
another  crop,  provided  seed  be  preserved,  will  spring  up : 
and  so  long  as  the  earth  itself  lasts,  so  long  will  corn  last 
also.  Thus  too  is  it  with  rules  and  principles.  A  rule 
is  like  a  loaf  of  bread.  It  is  a  ready,  handy  application  of  a 
principle,  a  principle  made  up  for  immediate  use.  By  rules 
we  govern  and  rule  our  children.  We  say  to  them,  "  Do 
this,"  or,  "  Don't  do  that."  because  it  is  easy  for  them  to 


PRINCIPLES  ABOVE  RULES.  323 

understand  a  plain  order;  but  it  is  not  always  easy  to  make 
them  understand  the  principle  or  reason  of  it.  When  the 
child  however  comes  to  be  a  man,  he  puts  away  childish 
things.  He  wants  a  new  set  of  rules  adapted  to  his  new 
state :  for  he  has  outgrown  the  rules  of  childhood,  so  that 
they  no  longer  fit  him.  The  rules  which  belong  to  one 
stage  of  life,  are  many  of  them  ill  suited  to  other  stages  of 
life.  In  like  manner  the  rules  which  belong  to  one  class  of 
men,  or  to  one  people,  or  to  one  age  of  the  world,  may  not 
suit  another  class  of  men,  or  another  people,  or  another  age 
of  the  world.  Hence  different  ages  and  different  nations 
require  different  rules.  To  take  an  instance,  the  rule,  or 
ordinance,  or  rite  of  circumcision,  which  St.  Paul  talks  so 
much  about,  was  suited  to  the  nonage  of  religion :  accord- 
ingly God  appointed  it  as  a  rule  or  ordinance  to  be  observed 
by  the  Jews,  who  were  living  so  to  say,  in  the  infancy  and 
childhood  of  religion.  But  when  religion  came  of  age,  when 
by  the  blessing  of  Jesus  Christ  it  reached  its  full  growth  and 
stature,  it  threw  away  circumcision  as  a  badge  of  its  child- 
hood. 

Now  if  every  age  of  the  world,  and  every  people,  and 
every  class  and  order  in  society,  and  every  stage  of  life, 
requires  each  its  own  rules,  and  if  the  rule  which  suits  one 
will  not  suit  another,  how  was  God  ever  to  give  mankind 
rules  enough  to  live  by?  What  book  is  large  enough  to 
hold  the  countless  swarms  of  them  that  would  be  wanted  ? 
Supposing  that  such  a  book  had  been  written,  it  would  have 
taken  men  their  whole  lives  to  read  and  learn  it.  What  a 
hard  matter  too  would  it  have  been  to  pick  out  the  rule 
needed  for  every  particular  occasion  !  The  time  for  action 
would  have  gone  by,  while  we  were  making  out  what  it 
behoved  us  to  do.  Therefore  God,  when  he  was  graciously 
pleased  to  give  us  a  law  which  was  to  serve,  not  for  one 
country  and  one  people,  but  for  the  whole  world,  did  not 


324  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


give  us  an  endless  string  of  rules  to  be  followed  according 
to  the  letter  in  each  particular  case,  but  gave  us  the 
principles  which  are  the  ground  and  sources  of  all  rules, 
and  from  which  the  rules  are  to  be  drawn.  Even  as  for  the 
nourishment  of  our  bodies  he  has  not  given  us  bread,  but 
wheat,  leaving  it  for  us  to  sow  the  wheat,  and  when  it  has 
come  up,  to  reap  it,  and  to  thresh  it,  and  to  grind  it,  and  to 
bake  it  into  bread  or  cakes,  or  what  we  please ;  in  like 
manner  tor  the  strengthening  of  our  souls  has  he  set  before 
us  what  is  good  and  right,  not  for  one  man  more  than 
another  man,  or  for  one  country  more  than  another  country, 
or  for  one  age  more  than  another  age,  but  for  all  men,  in  all 
countries,  and  in  all  ages  :  and  having  given  us  thus  much, 
having  given  us  the  seeds  of  all  rules,  he  has  left  us  in  great 
measure  to  grow  the  rules  for  ourselves ;  he  has  left  us  to 
spply  the  principles  to  particular  cases,  and  so  draw  the 
rules  for  each  case  out  of  them.  Thus,  when  he  did  away 
the  ordinance  of  circumcision,  at  the  very  time  when  he  took 
away  the  rule,  he  vouchsafed  to  give  us  the  principle  of  that 
rule  in  its  stead.  When  he  abolished  the  rite  by  his  apostle, 
St.  Paul,  he  declared  the  meaning  of  the  rite  :  he  told  us 
that  the  thing  signified  was  the  circumcision  or  purifying  of 
the  heart :  and  having  thus  shewn  us  this  great  and  high 
principle, — a  principle  which  concerns  all  mankind,  and  will 
concern  them  all  until  the  end  of  the  world,  since  all  men 
have  hearts  to  purify,  and  hearts  that  greatly  need  to  be 
purified, — he  has  left  it  to  the  judgment  and  conscience  of 
each  of  us  to  apply  the  principle  to  his  own  wants,  and  to 
frame  rules  for  himself  accordingly.  Do  we  find  that  we 
cannot  purge  ourselves  from  carnal  thoughts  and  desires, 
save  by  a  strict  course  of  abstinence  and  fasting  ?  We  are 
bound  to  circumcise  our  hearts  by  abstinence,  and  to  lay 
down  rules  for  our  fasting.  Do  we  find  the  amusements  and 
going  into  company  nourish  the  proud  flesh  within  us,  and  fill 


PRINCIPLES   ABOVE    RUf.ES. 


325 


US  with  vain  and  idle  imaginations  ?  We  must  exercise  our 
hearts  by  retirement,  and  must  bind  ourselves  by  rules  to 
keep  away  from  places  of  amusement.  I  say,  we  must  bind 
ourselves ;  for  in  neither  of  these  cases  has  God  bound  us. 
In  all  such  matters  he  has  left  his  people  free.  He  has  not 
said,  like  the  Pharisees  of  old,  Thou  shalt  fast  so  many 
times  a  week.  He  has  not  said,  Thou  shalt  never  go  to  a 
fair,  or  a  merrymaking,  or  a  cricket-match.  But  he  has  laid 
down  the  great  principles,  he  has  declared  the  all-embracing 
truths,  that  the  poor  in  spirit  shall  inherit  his  kingdom,  and 
that  the  poor  in  heart  shall  see  him  :  and  he  has  left  each 
person  to  make  out  the  bearings  of  these  principles  on  his 
own  case,  and  to  seek  these  blessings  of  humility  and  purity 
by  such  methods,  and  according  to  such  rules,  as  may  be 
deemed  best  and  safest,  either  by  the  man  himself,  or  by  the 
Church  he  is  a  member  of.  For  the  Church  of  each  age 
and  nation  is  bound  in  all  such  matters  to  help  and  guide 
its  members  in  the  interpretation  and  application  of  the 
principles  laid  down  in  Scripture  to  their  own  particular 
need  :  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  practice  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  these  latter  times  has  been  to 
leave  people  almost  entirely  to  their  own  unassisted  dis- 
cretion. I  cannot  but  think  that  it  would  be  a  very  happy 
thing,  especially  for  the  poor  and  ignorant,  if  a  little  of  the 
godly  discipline,  which  prevailed  in  the  primitive  Church, 
could  be  restored. 

What  has  been  observed  of  circumcision  might  be  extended 
pretty  nearly  to  the  whole  Jewish  law,  as  compared  with 
the  excellency  of  our  more  spiritual  religion.  Moses,  who 
had  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  a  particular  people,  at  a 
time  when  religion,  as  I  said  above,  was  only  in  its  child- 
hood, was  instructed  to  treat  them  as  we  treat  children, 
and  to  give  them  rules :  "  Touch  not,  taste  not,  hamlle 
not."     These  rules  St.  Paul  in  the  text  calls,  "  the  rudi- 


THE    ALTON   SERMONS. 


ments  of  the  world,"  thus  likening  them  to  the  rudiments  or 
elements  of  knowledge,  as  it  were,  to  the  alphabet,  which 
children  have  to  begin  with,  in  order  that  they  may  learn  to 
read,  and  get  a  footing  in  the  land  of  knowledge.  Jesus 
Christ  on  the  other  hand,  the  Word  and  the  Wisdom  of 
the  Most  High,  who  came  to  establish  religion  in  the  fullness 
of  its  strength,  and  to  furnish  it  with  all  such  good  gifts  as 
its  riper  age  required, — Jesus  Christ,  who  spake  for  all  men, 
for  all  nations,  for  all  ages, — did  not  lay  down  rules,  like 
Moses, — did  not  say,  "Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not." 
No  :  by  an  exertion  of  his  power  and  wisdom  more  mar- 
vellous to  a  thinking  mind  than  any,  even  the  greatest 
miracle  he  ever  wrought,  he  at  once,  by  a  few  plain  words, 
set  religion  free  from  all  her  former  swaddling-clothes  and 
leading-strings :  he  skimmed  off  the  cream,  as  it  were,  of 
the  law  of  Moses  :  in  the  room  of  burthensome  rites  and 
formal  rules,  he  gave  us  the  law  of  faith  and  love,  and 
thereby  made  his  doctrine  a  doctrine  of  principles,  living, 
active,  pure,  universal,  and  eternal. 

Somebody  however  may  perhaps  ask  me.  What  is  the 
worth  of  these  principles,  unless  they  bring  forth  good 
lives?  You  might  just  as  well  ask  me.  What  is  the  worth 
of  seed-corn  unless  it  brings  forth  wheat,  and  flour,  and 
bread  ?  Good  seed,  if  it  be  duly  sown,  and  the  care  of  the 
husbandman  is  not  wanting,  nmst,  under  God's  blessing, 
bring  forth  a  good  crop  of  wheat,  some  thirtyfold,  some 
sixtyfold,  some  a  hundredfold.  In  like  manner  good  prin- 
ciples, if  they  are  planted  in  a  heart  that  has  been  duly 
ploughed  and  weeded,  must  bring  forth  good  deeds,  some 
thirtyfold,  some  sixtyfold,  and  some  a  hundredfold.  The  only 
difference  is,  that  God's  blessing  is  sometimes  denied  to 
the  grower  of  the  corn  :  to  him  God  now  and  then  sends  a 
bad  season,  for  a  trial,  it  may  be,  of  his  patience,  or  to 
make  him  feel  that  he  is  wholly  dependent  upon  Him  who 


PRINCIPLES    ABOVE    RULES. 


327 


is  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  and  the  Giver  of  all  good  things. 
But  to  the  diligent  grower  of  good  principles,  to  the  man 
who  is  anxious  to  raise  up  the  goodly  plants  of  faith  and 
love  in  his  heart,  God's  blessing  is  never  denied.  His  crop 
is  sure  not  to  fail.  Sooner  or  later  it  will  spring  up  abun- 
dantly in  a  rich  harvest  of  good  works.  Of  this  we  may  be 
sure  ;  for  our  Lord  himself  tells  us  so.  *'  Every  good  tree," 
these  are  his  words,  "  bringeth  forth  good  fruit." 

But  why,  if  this  be  so,  do  I  lay  so  much  stress  on  the 
principles,  and  not  rather  speak  to  you  of  the  good  works 
which  are  to  come  from  them  ?  Because  in  the  first  place, 
the  works  without  the  principles  are  worth  nothing.  It  is 
the  motive,  as  we  all  know,  that  more  than  anything  else 
renders  an  action  good  or  bad.  However  fair  the  look  of 
an  action  may  be,  if  the  right  motive  is  wanting,  the  action 
is  hollow  :  if  the  motive  be  a  bad  one,  the  action  is  rotten 
at  the  core.  Who  cares  for  an  outward  seeming  or  show  of 
friendship  or  affection,  unless  the  heart  be  also  friendly  and 
affectionate?  Who  does  not  prize  a  rough  outside,  when  it 
covers  an  honest  inside,  more  than  the  most  fawning  fond- 
ness from  a  heart  that  is  cold  and  false  ?  Thus  it  is  right  to 
insist  on  the  principles  for  their  own  sake ;  because  the 
principles  give  their  value  to  the  action,  not  the  action  to 
the  principles.  The  principles  are  the  gold  on  which  the 
stamp  is  to  be  put :  if  the  gold  be  not  good,  the  stamp, 
though  it  may  often  deceive  people,  gives  it  no  real  worth  ; 
and  he  who  graves  the  king's  image  on  base  metal,  is  sent  to 
the  gallows  for  forgery. 

But  further,  it  is  right  to  enforce  the  principle  rather  tlian 
the  action,  because  a  good  principle,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  sure  of  producing  good  actions ;  whereas  good  actions, 
that  is,  actions  which  wear  the  outward  show  of  goodness, 
are  by  no  means  sure  of  producing  or  fostering  good  prin- 
ciples.     Take   for   example   the   giving   of  alms.     There 


THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


can  be  no  doubt  that  he  who  loves  his  neighbour  as  himself 
for  Christ's  sake,  will  relieve  his  wants  :  therefore  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that,  wherever  there  is  christian  love  or 
charity,  it  must  needs  produce  the  giving  of  alms,  and  every 
other  bountiful  work.  But  is  it  equally  certain  that  chris- 
tian love  will  grow  out  of  giving  to  the  poor  ?  Does  not 
the  Gospel  tell  us  of  the  hypocrites  who  did  their  alms  in 
the  streets,  to  be  seen  of  men  ?  Can  you  think  that  a  per- 
son who  gave  alms  from  such  a  corrupt,  selfish  motive,  would 
be  made  better  by  what  he  did?  Can  you  think  that  it 
would  render  him  more  bountiful,  more  compassionate, 
more  affectionate  ?  We  know  the  contrary.  We  know 
that  the  more  a  man  indulges  any  evil  propensity,  the  more 
he  falls  under  its  sway,  and  the  worse  he  becomes.  If  he 
indulges  his  vanity  and  selfishness,  he  is  sure  to  become 
vainer  and  more  selfish.  Nor  is  it  too  much  to  say,  that 
every  action  of  seeming  goodness,  which  does  not  flow  from 
a  sincere  and  honest  heart,  is  so  far  from  helping  to  make  a 
man  better,  that  it  tends  directly  to  make  him  still  more  the 
child  of  the  devil  and  the  slave  of  sin  than  he  was  before. 

Be  not  deceived  then,  my  brethren,  by  the  idle  talk,  which 
the  ungodly  are  wont  to  set  up,  that  goodness,  which  from 
such  lips  means  the  mere  outward  show  of  what  the  world 
deems  to  be  good,  is  better  than  religion ;  and  that  the  only 
thing  of  importance  is  to  teach  children  to  do  right,  without 
caring  about  bringing  them  up  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God. 
That  goodness  is  better  than  religion,  I  will  believe,  when 
any  man  has  convinced  me  that  the  rind  of  an  orange  is 
better  than  the  whole  orange.  That  teaching  children  to  be 
honest,  sober,  and  industrious,  is  better  than  bringing  them 
up  in  christian  holiness,  I  will  not  believe,  until  I  have  seen 
it  proved  that  it  is  better  to  sow  bread  than  to  sow  wheat. 
Make  the  bread  ;  and  take  care  that  your  children  make  the 
bread.     Be  careful  that  you  yourselves  keep,  be  careful  to 


PRINCIPLES   ABOVE    RULES.  329 

make  them  keep,  every  wholesome  rule  for  the  conduct  of 
life :  teach  them  to  walk  in  all  the  ordinances  of  the  moral 
law  blameless  :  teach  them  to  do  their  duty,  regularly,  faith- 
fully, exactly.  Set  them  the  example  of  industry,  of  sobriety, 
of  honesty:  and  do  your  best  to  lead  them  to  follow  it. 
But  sow  the  wheat,  as  you  value  your  own  souls,  and  theirs. 
Lose  no  opportunity,  from  the  cradle  upward,  of  teaching 
them  to  fear  and  to  love  God.  Speak  to  them  of  God,  of 
his  power,  of  his  purity,  of  his  fatherly  goodness  :  speak  to 
them  of  Christ,  and  of  his  exceeding  love  in  dying  for  us 
sinners  :  speak  to  them  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  bid  them 
pray  to  him  for  comfort  and  help.  Do  this ;  and  God,  you 
may  trust,  will  do  the  rest.  He  will  take  charge  of  the 
seed  which  you  have  dutifully  sown.  He  will  send  down 
the  dew  of  his  Spirit  upon  it.  The  seed  will  grow  up  and 
prosper,  and  will  blossom  to  everlasting  life. 


XXVIII. 
PRAY  WITH  THE   SPIRIT.  ■      . 

I  Cor.  xiv.  15. 

I  will  pray  with  the  spirit ;  and  I  will  pray  with  the  under- 
standing also. 

A  MONG  the  evil  customs  which  had  crept  into  the  Church 
'^^  of  Corinth,  one  was  that  some  of  the  teachers,  or 
ministers,  were  wont  to  disturb  the  congregation  by  preach- 
ing and  praying  to  them  in  a  foreign  language,  which  most 
of  them  could  not  understand  :  thus  misemploying  and 
abusing  their  gifts,  for  the  sake  of  making  their  hearers  stare, 
and  of  feeding  their  own  vanity.  The  folly  and  mischief  of 
such  a  practice  is  plain  enough.  What  would  you  think  of 
me,  if  I  had  been  reading  prayers  to  you  in  Latin  this 
morning,  or  were  to  begin  preaching  to  you  in  French? 
VVhat  could  you  be  the  better  for  the  prayers  ?  or  what  the 
wiser  for  the  sermon  ?  Now  this  is  just  what  St.  Paul  is 
reproving  in  the  chapter  from  which  the  text  is  taken.  He 
sets  forth  the  uselessness  of  speaking  to  a  congregation  in  a 
language  they  are  ignorant  of.  If  any  man  pray,  he  says,  in 
an  unknown  or  foreign  tongue,  his  spirit  indeed  prayeth,  but 
his  understanding  is  unfruitful :  that  is  to  say,  his  soul,  or 
spirit  may  pray ;  but  his  meaning  will  be  hidden  from  his 
hearers  ;  and  his  words,  not  being  understood  by  them,  will 
yield  them   no  fruit.     Then  comes  the  text,  "What  is  it 


PRAY   WITH    THE    SPIRIT.  33 1 


then ?"  or,  what  ought  we  do  then?  " I  will  pray  with  the 
spirit,  and  I  will  pray  with  the  understanding  also."  In 
other  words,  when  we  assemble  together  for  the  worship  of 
God,  the  ministers  are  not  to  pray  with  the  spirit,  or  soul 
only,  for  their  own  edification  and  improvement ;  but  every 
minister  ought  so  to  pray,  that  the  people  may  understand 
him,  and  that  even  the  most  unlearned,  knowing  what  is 
asked  for,  may  be  able,  as  we  read  in  the  next  verse,  to  say 
ame7i  from  the  heart,  at  the  end  of  each  petition. 

This  is  the  strict  and  primary  meaning  of  the  text,  the 
meaning  which,  if  we  consider  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
St.  Paul  had  chiefly  in  view,  when  he  wrote  this  part  of  his 
epistle.  His  purpose  was  to  reprove  and  correct  the  extrava- 
gant conceit  of  the  prayer-utterers,  whose  vanity  led  them  to 
pray  before  the  people  in  a  language  nobody  could  under- 
stand. Since  those  times  however  things  are  changed,  and 
in  this  respect  happily  for  the  better.  No  one  can  now  get 
up  in  one  of  our  churches,  and  disturb  the  congregation  by 
praying  in  an  unknown  or  foreign  tongue.  We  have  a  form 
of  sound  words  given  us  in  the  Prayer-book,  wliich  every 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England  is  bound  to  keep  to, 
and  which  every  minister  does  keep  to  from  one  end  of  the 
kingdom  to  the  other.  Go  where  you  will,  into  whatever 
church  you  will,  in  London,  in  any  country  town,  in  any 
village,  in  the  most  out-of-the-way  hamlet,  you  will  every- 
where hear  the  same  morning  service  in  the  morning,  the 
same  evening  service  in  the  evening  :  you  will  hear  the  same 
Psalms,  the  same  Lessons,  the  same  thanksgivings,  the  same 
prayers.  In  the  furthest  corners  of  England,  in  "Wales,  in 
Ireland,  nay  even  in  the  East  and  West  Indies,  wherever 
the  brethren  of  our  Church  meet  together  to  worship  God, 
you  would  hear  the  same  wise  and  sober  and  hearty  and 
pious  and  truly  christian  praises  and  petitions,  wliich  you 
have  been  used  to  in  this  place  from  your  childhood. 


332  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Shall  we  flatter  ourselves  that 
the  command  in  the  text, — for  such  we  may  deem  it, — to 
pray  with  the  spirit,  and  to  pray  also  with  the  understand- 
ing, cannot  apply  to  us?  Shall  we  fancy  that  it  belongs  only 
to  a  state  of  things  which  is  gone  by,  that  it  is  out  of  date, 
and  that  we  have  no  concern  with  it  ?  My  brethren,  the 
truths  of  the  Bible  can  never  be  out  of  date.  The  state  of 
things,  which  led  Jesus  and  his  apostles  to  set  forth  certain 
principles,  will  of  course  change;  for  everything  earthly 
does  :  but  a  new  state  of  things  arises  in  its  room,  on  which 
the  same  principles  bear.  The  true  Christian  therefore, 
feeling  that  the  principles  delivered  in  the  New  Testament 
are  a  solemn  trust,  which  he  is  to  use  to  the  best  of  his 
judgment,  according  to  the  circumstances  he  is  placed  in, 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  learning  how  St.  Paul  applied  a 
principle  in  the  times  wherein  he  lived,  but  will  rather  ask 
himself,  how  would  St.  Paul  have  applied  the  same  principle 
now,  if  he  had  been  living  in  these  days  ?  For  that  is  the 
point  which  concerns  us.  What  was  meant  by  praying  with 
the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  is  in  great  measure  a  question  of  curiosity.  But 
how  to  pray  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding  now, 
is  a  question  of  plain  practice.  For  surely  no  one  will 
imagine  that  it  is  of  less  consequence  for  us,  than  it  was  for 
the  first  Christians,  to  employ  our  minds  and  our  hearts,  as 
well  as  our  tongues,  in  God's  service.  No  one  who  knows 
anything  of  the  New  Testament,  can  fancy  it  possible  lor 
us  to  serve  God  acceptably,  unless  we  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth,  and  serve  him  with  a  reasonable  service.  Nay, 
even  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  it  was  the  same.  Thus 
we  read  at  the  beginning  of  the  103rd  Psalm,  "Praise  the 
Lord,  O  my  soul ! " — not  my  tongue  or  my  voice,  but  7}iy 
soul:  here  you  have  David  praying  with  the  spirit: — and 
what  comes  next  ?     *'  And  all  that  is  within  me  praise  his 


PRAY    WITH    THE    SPIRIT.  333 

holy  name."  You  see,  according  to  David,  a  man  should 
praise  God  with  all  that  is  within  him.  Is  his  understanding 
within  him?  He  ought  to  praise  God  with  his  understand- 
ing. Is  his  memory  within  him  ?  He  ought  to  praise  God 
with  his  memory,  by  remembering  all  his  benefits.  In  a 
word,  whatever  powers  of  mind  and  heart  and  soul  he  may 
be  gifted  with,  David  in  the  103rd  Psalm,  and  in  many  other 
places  besides,  teaches  him  to  exert  them  all,  when  he  is 
praising,  and  of  course  also  when  he  is  praying  to  God.  But  if 
this  was  the  duty  of  God's  faithful  servants  even  before  Christ's 
coming,  how  much  more  must  it  be  so  now  that  ChribL  io 
come,  and  has  set  us  free  from  the  yoke  of  rites  and  cere- 
monies, and,  instead  of  all  those  burthensome  sacrifices  and 
observances,  which  pressed  so  heavily  on  the  Jews  of  old, 
requires  nothing  of  us  save  that  we  should  worship  God  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  and  serve  him  with  a  reasonable  service. 
What,  I  say,  is  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
application  of  St.  Paul's  principle,  that  men  should  pray 
with  the  spirit,  and  also  with  the  understanding,  to  the 
present  state  of  our  Church  ?  The  main  change  is  this. 
When  St.  Paul  wrote  the  words,  he  addressed  them  to  the 
prayer-utterers,  to  warn  them  against  uttering  prayers  which 
the  people  did  not  understand.  That  fault  has  been  cor- 
rected in  the  simplest  manner,  by  doing  away  with  prayer- 
utterers,  and  establishing  prayer-readers.  Instead  of  persons 
getting  up  and  praying  without  book,  as  it  is  called,  which 
was  the  practice  in  early  times,  and  led,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
great  abuses,  our  Church,  in  its  wisdom,  has  appointed 
regular  forms  of  prayer,  which  are  to  be  read  out  of  the 
Prayerbook,  so  that  the  people  may  bear  a  part  in  the  ser- 
vice, if  they  will  only  attend  to  it.  St.  Paul's  words  there- 
fore are  now  addressed  not  to  the  prayer-utterers,  who  in  our 
Church  are  not  to  be  found,  but  mainly  to  the  prayer-hearers, 
that  is,  to  you.     It  is  to  yourselves  that  you  are  to  apply 


334  I'HE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

the  command  to  pray  both  with  the  spirit  and  with  the 
understanding  :  for  it  is  to  you  that  St.  Paul  himself  would 
mainly  apply  it,  were  he  to  come  to  life  again  and  preach 
on  it. 

In  the  first  place  you  should  pray  with  the  spirit :  that  is, 
you  should  feel  what  you  say,  and  should  wish  for  what  you 
ask.  If  you  do  not,  your  prayers  will  be  a  mere  pretence. 
When  you  pray  to  God  to  pardon  your  sins  for  instance,  it 
is  clear  that  you  acknowledge  yourselves  to  have  sinned  in 
such  a  way  as  to  need  pardon.  Else  why  do  you  ask  it  ? 
Does  any  one  ask  for  what  he  does  not  want  ?  Praying  too 
is  more  than  common  asking.  Praying  is  asking  earnestly 
as  we  do  when  we  greatly  desire  what  we  ask  for.  Do  we, 
then,  when  we  pray  for  God's  forgiveness,  beg  hard  for  it,  as 
for  some  boon  that  we  really  long  for  ?  If  we  do  not, — and 
alas  !  how  few  do ! — we  cannot  be  said  to  pray  with  the 
spirit. 

But  you  may  ask  me,  how  is  a  man  to  get  to  feel  such  a 
longing  for  God's  forgiveness,  as  shall  make  him  pray  for  it 
with  his  heart,  or  with  his  spirit,  as  well  as  with  his  tongue  ? 
Some  of  you  may  be  tempted  to  say  within  yourselves  :  "  It 
is  not  my  fault  that  I  do  not  feel  all  this  :  I  have  tried  to 
do  so,  and  cannot."  To  such  a  man  I  answer,  I  believe  it, 
I  believe  it  fully.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  we 
cannot  of  ourselves  call  up  spiritual  feelings  in  our  hearts  at 
pleasure.  Man  in  his  natural  unassisted  state,  man  without 
the  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  cannot  love  the  things  of  God. 
St.  Paul's  language  on  this  point  is  clear  and  positive  :  and 
even  if  he  had  never  written  a  word  about  the  matter,  one 
could  hardly  look  round  the  world,  one  could  not  look  into 
one's  own  heart,  and  not  perceive,  that  it  is  not  natural  for 
man  to  love  the  things  of  God.  Many  of  God's  laws  we 
can  keep  naturally,  or  at  least  with  no  more  than  the 
ordinary  and  scant  measure  of  divine  grace  which  must  have 


PRAY   WITH    THE    SPIRIT.  335 

been  vouchsafed  even  to  the  heathens.  For  exami)]c,  the 
light  of  conscience  and  the  checks  of  laws  and  education  are 
enough  to  hold  most  men  back  from  the  grosser  offences 
against  their  neighbours,  such  as  murder  and  adultery. 
Again,  a  man  may  be  induced  to  eschew  certain  vices,  by 
observing  their  evil  consequences  in  this  world.  He  may 
see  that  brawls  abroad  and  sickness  at  home  often  follow 
after  strong  drink,  and  for  this  reason  may  shun  drunken- 
ness. In  like  manner  he  may  be  led  to  thrift  and  industry, 
by  noticing  how  surely  waste  and  sloth  bring  a  man  to  rags 
and  hunger.  Or  he  may  be  rendered  cleanly  and  regular 
by  remarking  the  discomforts  and  troubles  of  dirt,  untidi- 
ness, and  disorder.  Further,  a  man,  without  being  a  Chris- 
tian, may  do  many  kind  and  praiseworthy  actions,  out  of  a 
regard  for  public  opinion, — from  the  principles  to  be  met 
with  even  in  such  books  as  have  no  concern  with  religion, — 
or  through  an  easy,  cheerful  temper,  and  a  compassionate 
heart.  To  this  pitch  of  excellence  we  often  see  an  irreli- 
gious man  may  attain.  And  what  does  it  amount  to  ?  To 
harmlessness,  which  is  the  virtue  of  the  sheep ;  to  industry, 
which  is  the  virtue  of  the  ant ;  to  prudence,  which  is  the 
virtue  of  the  bee  ;  to  friendliness  and  generosity,  strong 
traces  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  half-human  dog.  I  do 
not  say  that  there  may  not  now  and  then  be  an  example  of 
an  irreligious  man  rising  beyond  this,  and  devoting  himself 
to  the  service  of  his  fellow-creatures  out  of  what  seems  to 
be  pure  love.  But,  generally  speaking,  the  virtues  of  the 
irreligious  are  only  animal  virtues.  They  are  only  excel- 
lences which  belong  to  man  as  an  observing  and  social 
animal  :  the  proof  of  which  is,  that  even  the  beasts  that 
perish  share  them  with  him.  Mind,  I  am  not  saying  that 
thrift  and  industry  and  friendliness  are  not  good  qualities. 
They  are  good,  they  are  excellent  qualities ;  and  nobody 
can  be  a  true  Christian  without  them.     But,  excellent  as 


33^  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

they  are,  they  are  not  spiritual  qualities,  and,  when  standing 
by  themselves,  can  no  more  make  a  Christian,  than  wood 
without  sails  can  make  a  ship.  A  plank  of  wood,  you 
know,  will  float  of  itself,  and,  if  large  enough,  will  bear  up 
a  man  who  lays  hold  on  it.  So  a  person  having  those 
animal  good  qualities,  which  lie  within  the  reach  of  the 
natural  man,  will  float  on  the  tide  of  this  world,  and,  as  the 
phrase  is,  \\dll  keep  his  head  above  water.  But  would  you 
prepare  for  the  voyage  which  you  must  all  undertake  ? 
would  you  speed  toward  the  haven  where  we  shall  all  one 
day  A\ish  to  be  ?  Mere  wood  will  not  serve  :  you  must  get 
sails.  To  the  virtues  of  this  world  you  must  add  the  feelings 
of  another  world.  To  the  animal  good  qualities,  which,  as 
animals,  we  have  in  common  with  the  gentler  and  more 
social  of  the  brutes,  you  must  add  those  spiritual  graces 
which  raise  man  to  a  brotherhood  with  the  angels.  This  is 
the  one  thing  especially  needful ;  which  yet  no  man  can  do 
for  himself.  No  man  can  say,  "  I  will  love  God."  No  man 
can  say,  "  I  will  grieve  for  having  oflended  God  by  my  cold- 
ness and  negligence  in  his  service."  These  feelings  are  no 
longer  natural  to  us  :  we  lost  them  at  the  Fall ;  and  ever 
since  a  man  can  no  more  bid  them  spring  up  in  his  heart, 
than  the  hull  of  a  ship  can  fit  itself  out  for  sea,  and  wing 
itself  with  sails  for  starting. 

But,  if  we  are  commanded  to  pray  with  the  spirit,  and  yet 
so  to  pray  is  not  natural  to  man,  surely  we  are  in  evil  case, 
and  God  has  dealt  hardly  with  us,  in  requiring  a  duty  which 
it  does  not  rest  with  us  to  pay.  Not  so,  my  brethren,  God 
is  no  such  hard  taskmaster.  All  that  he  demands  of  his 
servants  is,  that  they  give  him  back  his  gifts  with  increase. 
Though  no  one  can  say  of  himself,  "  I  will  pray  with  the 
spirit,"  every  one  can  say,  "  I  will  pray  to  God  so  to  change 
my  heart,  that  I  may  have  the  heart  to  pray  to  him  : "  and 
God  has  promised  his  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him.     "  I  will 


PRAY    WITH    THE    SPHilT. 


337 


pour,"  he  says,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet  Zechariah 
(xii.  lo),  "  upon  the  house  of  David,  and  upon  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Jerusalem," — that  is,  on  all  the  members  of  Christ's 
Church, — "  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplications  ;  and  they 
shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have  pierced," — that  is,  on 
Christ  whom  we  have  hurt  and  pierced  by  our  sins ; — "  and 
they  shall  mourn  for  him  as  one  mourneth  for  his  only  son, 
and  shall  be  in  bitterness  for  him  as  one  that  is  in  bitterness 
for  his  first-born."  No  promise  can  be  more  express  or 
plainer ;  and  its  parts  follow  one  another  in  a  most  instruc- 
tive order.  First  we  have  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplica- 
tion poured  on  us;  for  without  that  we  can  do  nothing. 
The  next  step  is,  that  the  spirit  thus  given  to  us  leads  us  to 
look  on  Christ  whom  we  have  pierced.  In  other  words,  we 
are  moved  to  think  much  and  often  of  all  that  Jesus  Christ 
suffered  on  the  cross ;  and  then,  when  our  minds  are  thus 
filled  with  pity  and  honour,  to  look  within  and  call  to  mind 
that  it  was  for  our  transgressions,  lightly  as  we  deem  of 
them,  that  he  was  wounded,  and  that,  if  he  was  bruised  and 
smitten  and  afflicted,  it  was  for  our  iniquities  and  sins.  The 
habit  thus  wrought  in  us  of  looking  at  sin  in  connexion  with 
the  cross  of  Christ,  as  the  true  cause  of  all  his  sufferings,  and 
as  the  curse  which  he  bore  for  us  on  the  tree, — this  habit  is 
fitted  to  set  the  guilt  and  hatefulness  of  disobeying  God  in 
the  clearest  and  strongest  light,  and  is  of  all  ways  the  like- 
liest to  work  on  our  hearts.  Therefore  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  prophecy,  after  telling  us  that  we  shall  look  on  him 
whom  we  have  pierced,  should  go  on  to  promise  that  we 
shall  mourn  for  him  with  bitter  mourning.  For,  though  the 
love  of  God  is  not  natural  to  man,  pity  and  compassion  and 
gratitude  are.  These  sparks  of  our  original  brightness,  these 
roots  and  stumps,  if  I  may  so  call  them,  from  the  land  of 
Eden,  we  all  bear  about  us  more  or  less.  It  is  natural  to 
grieve  for  the  loss  of  a  dear  and  kind  friend  :  and  if  he  died 

z 


23^  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

a  violent,  a  bloody,  a  painful  death, — if  he  never  did  any- 
thing to  draw  down  such  a  death  on  himself, — if  he  bore  his 
sufferings  patiently  and  meekly, — all  this  is  sure  to  swell  our 
grief. 

Suppose  however  that  it  was  for  us,  and  in  our  defence, 
that  our  dear  kind  friend  met  his  death ;  suppose  that  we 
were  travelling  together,  and  that  the  villains  aimed  the 
blow  at  us,  but  our  friend  stepped  between  and  caught  it,  and 
saved  our  life  by  sacrificing  his  own, — would  not  this  add 
tenfold  to  our  grief  and  love  for  him  ?  Must  I  go  on  still 
further?  When  we  saw  him  struck  down,  instead  of  stand- 
ing by  him,  and  fighting  a  little  for  him,  who  had  just  given 
his  life  for  us,  —  how  shall  I  speak  of  such  shameful 
cowardice — we  took  fright,  we  ran  away,  and  left  him  to 
die !  We  meant  indeed  to  alarm  the  neighbourhood :  we 
vowed  within  ourselves  that  we  would  come  back  very 
shortly  with  all  the  men  we  could  muster,  to  seize  and 
punish  the  murderers.  But  one  of  them  for  fear  of  this 
took  a  purse  from  our  poor  friend's  pocket,  and  threw  us  a 
few  pieces  of  gold.  Some  of  his  blood  flowed  that  way,  and 
there  was  a  red  spot  on  one  of  them  :  but  what  of  that? 
We  had  a  bill  to  make  up  ;  winter  was  coming,  when  work 
is  scarce  :  seizing  the  thieves  could  not  bring  our  friend  to 
life  again  :  so  we  turned  back  and  picked  up  the  gold,  and 
went  halves  with  the  murderers  of  our  preserver.  Now  I 
would  ask  you,  when  the  poor  wretches  who  had  been 
guilty  of  such  cowardice,  such  baseness,  such  treachery, 
such  ingratitude,  came  to  them^selves,  would  they  not  mourn  ? 
Unless  their  consciences  were  utterly  seared,  surely  they 
must  mourn  bitterly. 

Such,  or  something  like  it,  is  the  way  in  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  brings  us  to  mourn  for  sin.  He  places  Jesus  Christ  be- 
fore us  hanging  on  the  cross  :  he  points  out  his  hands,  his  feet, 
his  wounded  side,  and  then  cries  to  us,  '•'  This  is  thy  doing." 


PRAY   WITH   THE   SPIRIT. 


339 


Should  we  deny  the  charge, — as  most  of  us  would,  protest- 
ing that  we  had  no  hand  in  the  deed,  that  we  have  always 
hated  it,  that  from  the  bottom  of  our  souls  we  abhor  the 
wicked  Jews,  who  crucified  our  Lord  and  Master, — the  Hol\' 
Spirit  sets  before  us  some  such  parable  as  I  have  been  tell- 
ing you,  and  then  stops  our  mouth  with  three  short  ques- 
tions. The  first  question  is,  "  Did  not  Christ  die  for  you  ? 
and  must  not  the  curse  due  to  sin  have  fallen  on  each  of  you, 
if  Jesus  had  not  stepped  between,  and  shielded  and  save<l 
you  by  giving  his  life  for  yours?"  To  this  there  can  be  but 
one  answer :  for  St.  Paul  says  plainly  (Gal.  iii.  13),  "Christ 
hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law," — by  the  law, 
the  law  of  justice,  we  are  all  accursed, — "being  made  a 
curse  for  us."  The  second  question  is,  "Who  were  the  real 
murderers  of  Jesus  Christ?"  To  this  again  there  can  be 
but  one  answer :  the  sins  of  men,  on  account  of  which  he 
died,  and  the  devil  who  bribed  Judas  Iscariot  to  betray 
him.  The  third  and  last  question  is,  "  Have  you,  since  you 
were  taught  these  things  in  your  childhood,  ever  been 
wilfully  guilty  of  any  act  of  sin?  have  you  ever  taken  a 
bribe  from  the  devil,  in  the  shape  of  some  unlawful  pleasure, 
some  forbidden  gain,  or  some  angiy,  spiteful,  or  envious 
feeling  harboured  and  cherished  against  your  neighbour? 
Have  you  ever  in  these  or  any  other  ways  taken  the  devil's 
wages  to  do  his  work  instead  of  fighting  against  him,  as  you 
ought  always  to  be  doing,  beside  the  cross  of  your  crucified 
Redeemer  ? "  This  is  the  third  and  last  question  :  and  to 
this  also  only  one  answer  can  be  given.  AVe  have  all  of  us, 
every  child  of  Adam  has,  more  or  less,  parleyed  and  made 
truce  with  the  arch-enemy  of  his  Saviour.  Most  too  at  some 
time  or  other  have  entered  into  his  service,  at  least  for  a 
season,  by  indulging  in  some  known  sin :  and  so  the  price 
of  blood, — the  blood  of  our  greatest  friend,  of  our  chiefcst 
benefactor,  of  our  only  Saviour, — the  price  of  the  blood  of 


340  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


the  Son  of  God  is  on  our  souls.  In  this  manner  does  the 
Holy  Ghost  convince  men  of  sin,  and  bring  them  to  mourn 
for  their  past  conduct,  and  prove  himself  to  be  the  Spirit  of 
supplication,  by  stirring  us  to  supplicate  heartily  for  pardon. 
If  you  then  at  any  time  feel  a  contented  coldness  creep 
over  your  souls,  beware  of  it,  as  of  a  drowsiness  which  may 
end  in  death.  Fall  straightway  on  your  knees,  and  ask  for 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  enlighten  you.  Then  take  your  Bible, 
and  read  over  the  26th  and  27th  chapters  of  St.  Matthew, 
or  the  22nd  and  23rd  chapters  of  St.  Luke.  Having  thus 
])laced  Christ  as  it  were  on  the  cross  before  your  eyes,  turn  to 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  try  yourselves  by  it.  So  shall 
you  be  brought  to  look  on  him  whom  you  have  pierced  : 
you  shall  be  brought  to  feel  by  your  sins  he  was  pierced, 
and  shall  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  supplication. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  what  a  man  ought  to  do,  if  he  feels 
that  coldness  and  languor,  which  so  many  complain  of  feel- 
ing, when  they  come  to  church  and  try  to  pray.  The  man 
who  feels  this  palsy, — for  it  is  a  palsy  of  the  soul, — should 
say  to  himself:  "  I  am  sick :  I  have  that  sad  numbing  dis- 
ease, which  I  inherit  from  our  common  father  Adam  :  a  cold 
chill  has  come  over  my  soul :  I  must  go  at  once  to  the  great 
Physician."  Then  he  should  kneel  down,  and  pray  to  God 
for  the  spirit  of  prayer :  and  having  done  this,  he  should 
await  God's  good  pleasure,  nothing  doubting  but  that  sooner 
or  later  God  will  hear  him,  and  will  pour  down  the  spirit  of 
supi)lication  abundantly  upon  him.  Only  we  are  not  to 
reckon  on  God's  hearkening  to  us  forthwith.  He  may;  and 
so  gracious  is  he,  perhaps  he  will.  But  on  the  other  hand 
It  is  possible  he  may  not  hearken  to  us  forthwith :  so  we 
should  be  prepared  for  the  delay.  For  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
God's  best  gift ;  and  a  father  very  seldom  gives  his  best  gift 
to  his  children  the  moment  they  begin  to  ask  for  it.  A 
i.mall  thing  he  may  perhaps  give  them  readily :  but,  if  the 


PRAY   WITH   THE    SPIRIT.  34 1 


gift  be  great  and  precious,  so  that  he  would  have  them  set  great 
store  by  it,  he  will  often  make  them  wait  a  while  that  they 
may  feel  the  want  of  it,  and  prize  it  the  more  when  given. 
Thus  do  earthly  parents  deal  with  their  children  :  and  our 
heavenly  Father  often  deals  with  his  children  in  the  same 
way.  He  knows  how  little  we  are  apt  to  think  of  a  thing 
that  we  can  get  easily :  so  he  often  tarries  and  delays  for  a 
season  to  be  gracious,  and  even  as  it  were  hides  his  face 
from  us,  to  accustom  us  to  wait  patiently  for  his  time  and 
pleasure,  to  teach  us  tliat  every  good  gift  comes  to  us  from 
him  alone,  and  to  make  us  feel  our  great  need  and  the  great 
value  of  his  Spirit,  that  we  may  use  it  the  more  diligently, 
and  husband  it  the  more  carefully,  when  at  length  he  pours 
it  down  upon  us. 

For  pour  it  down  at  length  he  will,  if  we  only  persevere 
in  asking  for  it :  pour  it  into  our  souls  he  will,  and  that  too 
most  largely  and  richly.  This  is  the  purport  of  the  two 
parables  which  we  find  in  the  nth  and  i8th  chapters  of  St. 
Luke,  the  parable  of  the  man  who  went  to  his  neighbour  at 
midnight  to  ask  him  for  three  loaves,  and  the  parable  of  the 
importunate  widow.  In  the  latter  of  these  parables  the  un- 
just judge,  a  person  who  neither  feared  God,  nor  regarded 
man,  is  represented  as  being  moved  by  the  prayers  of  a  poor 
widow  to  do  her  justice  ;  not  because  he  felt  pity,  as  a  man 
should,  for  her  helpless  and  forlorn  condition ;  but  because 
she  troubled  him  with  her  entreaties,  and  he  foresaw  that 
she  would  keep  on  coming  to  him,  so  that  he  should  have 
no  rest  till  he  had  seen  her  righted.  Now  what  is  the  mean- 
ing of  this  parable  ?  Not  surely  that  the  Creator  of  the 
ends  of  the  earth  can  be  wearied  out  by  much  speaking. 
Much  less  can  it  mean  that  God  is  an  unjust  Judge  who  will 
not  do  right,  except  he  be  constrained  to  it.  The  parable 
means,  that,  if  even  an  unjust  and  godless  judge,  when  he 
had  no  intention  of  helping  the  poor  widow,  was  driven  to 


342  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

do  SO  by  her  importunity,  that  is,  by  her  unceasingly  repeated 
teasing  and  wearing  entreaties,  then  great  must  be  the  force 
of  importunity,  great  indeed  must  be  the  power  of  continual 
earnest  prayer. 

But  here  the  old  difficulty  comes  across  us  again.  I  am 
trying  to  shew  you  how  you  may  get  to  pray.  I  have  been 
setting  before  you  the  case  of  a  man  whose  soul  is  palsied 
and  benumbed,  who  has  the  sense  to  see  that  he  ought  to 
pray  with  his  heart,  as  well  as  with  his  lips,  but  who  when 
he  tries  to  do  so,  finds  that  he  cannot,  that  his  heart  is  cold 
and  Hfeless.  Now  it  is  plain  that  a  man  in  this  state  cannot 
pray  with  importunity  :  in  truth  he  cannot  pray  at  all.  His 
heart  does  not  go  along  with  his  lips ;  and,  till  it  does,  there 
can  be  no  praying.  It  may  seem  little  better  than  mockery 
then  to  advise  a  man  in  this  plight  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  poor  widow  :  just  as  it  would  be  mockery  to  tell  a  para- 
lytic man,  who  can  neither  stir  hand  nor  foot,  that,  if  he 
will  take  a  walk  on  the  downs  every  morning,  he  will  be 
sure  to  get  well.  Would  not  the  poor  fellow,  whose  body 
was  palsied,  make  answer,  "  Why  talk  to  me  about  walking, 
when  you  see  I  cannot  move  ? "  So  the  other  poor  man, 
whose  soul  is  palsied,  might  likewise  make  answer,  when  I 
spoke  to  him  of  the  widow  in  the  parable,  "  Why  tell  me  to 
])ray  with  importunity,  when  I  cannot  pray  at  all  ?  The 
l)oor  widow  was  no  doubt  very  anxious  and  eager  to  have 
justice  done  her;  and  so  she  craved  and  cried  for  it.  But 
I  have  no  such  anxiety  and  craving  for  the  blessing  of  God 
in  my  heart :  how  then  can  I  cry  for  it  as  she  cried?" 

I  have  stated  the  difficulty  as  plainly  as  I  can ;  and  my 
answer  shall  be  just  as  plain.  If  you  cannot  pray  conti- 
nually, you  can  ask  continually  :  and  that,  to  begin  with,  will 
do  as  well.  For  God  requires  nothing  impossible.  He 
reckons  with  every  man  according  to  what  he  has,  and  not 
according  to  what  he  has  not.     Let  every  one  then  do  the 


PRAY  WITH   THE    SPIRIT.  343 

best  he  can.     He  who  has  been  enabled  to  pray,  let  him 
pray.    He  who  has  not  learnt  to  pray  yet,  let  him  nsk.    Ask- 
ing is  the  weakness,  and  as  it  were  the  infancy  of  prayer. 
We  pray  for  that  which  we  earnestly  desire  :    we  ask  for 
that  which  we  believe  will  do  us  good,  though  we  have  no 
great  relish  or  wish  for  it.     Thus  a  sick  man  has  no  great 
liking  for  his  physic  :  yet  he  can  ask  for  it,  if  he  is  persuaded 
it  will  cure  him.     When  it  is  brought  to  him,  he  can  take 
it,  however  unpalatable,  and  be  it  ever  so  many  times  a 
day.     So  you  too  can  all  of  you  ask  God  tor  the  bitter 
medicine  of  repentance,  if  you  really  believe  it  will  be  tor 
the  good  of  your  souls.     You  can  ask  for  what  your  under- 
standing tells  you  is  wholesome,  though  your  heart  may  be 
too  sick  to  relish  it.     In  a  word,  you  are  to  try  to  pray,  at 
church  and  at  home,  morning  and  evening,  just  as  the  sick 
man  forces  himself  to  take  the  draught  at  the  hour  ordered 
by  the  physician.     If  you  do  this,  and  persevere  in  doing  it, 
to  the  best  of  your  power,  I  will  promise  you,  what  nobody 
can  promise  to  the  sick  man  :  I  will  promise  you,  that  you 
will  recover,  that  your  spiritual  palsy  will  be  cured,  that 
your  heart  will  be  brought  into  harmony  with  your  under- 
standing,  and  will  no  longer  utter  a  low  and  false  note, 
when  your  reason  and  conscience  strike  a  high  and  true  one. 
This  is  the  lesson  taught  us  in  the  other  parable  I  re- 
ferred to,  the  parable  of  the  loaves  ;  which  seems  designed 
to  encourage  Christians  at  their  first  starting  on  the  right 
road.     In  that  parable  a  friend  comes  from  far  late  at  night 
unexpectedly  to  a  poor  man's  cottage,  who  has  nothing  in 
the  house  to  give  him  for  supper.     So  he  runs  to  his  next 
neighbour,  knocks  at  the  door,  and  begs  to  borrow  three 
loaves  of  him.     But  his  neighbour  bids  him  go  away ;  for 
he  and  all  his  family  are  in  bed,  and  he  cannot  get  up  and 
open  the  door.     The  poor  man  however  is  loth  that  his 
friend  should  go  supperless  after  his  journey :  so  he  will 


344  THE    ALTON    SERMONS, 

take  no  denial,  but  goes  on  knocking  at  the  door,  till  his 
neighbour,  to  be  rid  of  him,  lets  him  have  the  loaves.  Now 
we  cannot  suppose  that  the  man  who  went  to  his  neighbour 
for  the  loaves,  had  it  as  much  at  heart  to  get  them,  as  the 
poor  widow  must  have  had  it  at  heart  to  get  justice.  His 
then  can  only  have  been  asking,  while  hers  was  real  praying. 
Yet  he  was  no  less  importunate  in  asking  for  bread,  than 
she  was  in  praying  for  justice.  As  she  went  on  praying  and 
praying,  so  he  went  on  asking  and  asking ;  and  neither  of 
them  would  take  a  denial.  Thus  both  these  parables  teach 
us  the  same  lesson,  that  we  should  continue  instant  and 
urgent  in  our  petitions  to  God  for  spiritual  gifts,  and  that 
we  are  not  to  slacken  or  grow  fainthearted  in  case  God 
makes  as  though  he  did  not  hear.  Both  too  hold  out  the 
same  promise  :  and  God,  you  know,  "  keepeth  his  promise 
for  ever."  That  promise  you  shall  have  in  our  Lord's  own 
words.  "  I  say  unto  you," — it  is  Jesus  Christ  who  is  speak- 
ing,— "  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you.  If  a  son  ask  bread 
of  any  of  you  that  is  a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ?  If 
ye  then,  being  evil," — that  is,  if  men  in  a  natural  and  unre- 
generated  state, — "  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him?"  So  that  there  is 
no  longer  any  room  for  doubt,  seeing  that  God  by  the 
mouth  of  his  blessed  Son  has  expressly  promised  his  Holy 
Spirit  to  us,  provided  we  persevere  in  asking  for  it :  just  as 
in  the  parable  of  the  importunate  widow  he  has  promised 
to  uphold  us  against  our  ghostly  adversary,  and,  notwith- 
standing all  his  accusations,  to  give  sentence  for  us  in  the 
great  day,  provided  we  persevere  in  praying  to  him  earnestly 
and  fervently,  as  men  who  pray  with  the  spirit. 

This  then  is  the  way  to  get  to  pray  with  the  spirit.  We 
must  ask  for  the  spirit  to  pray  with  :  and  that  not  once, 
or  twice,  but  constantly,  regularly  as  for  our  daily  bread, 


PRAY   WITH    THE    SPIRIT.  345 


unceasingly,  so  as  to  take  no  denial.  If  we  do  this,  God 
from  time  to  time  will  pour  down  a  fresh  supi)ly  of  that  best 
gift  of  his,  "the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplication."  Observe 
the  order  of  the  name,  that  it  is  first  the  spirit  of  grace,  and 
then  the  spirit  of  supplication.  From  the  spirit  of  grace  we 
receive  whatever  is  more  closely  connected  with  the  covenant 
of  grace,  that  is,  with  God's  offer  of  a  free  pardon  to  all 
who  will  repent  and  turn  to  him  for  the  sake  ot  his  crucified 
Son.  Thus  by  the  spirit  of  grace  we  are  taught,  in  the  way 
I  explained  to  you  above,  to  feel  first  the  great  evil  of  sin, 
and  then  the  love  of  Christ  in  dying  for  us.  By  the  same 
spirit  we  are  filled  with  a  grateful  love  to  God  and  to  his 
Son  for  this  their  marvellous  loving-kindness.  Lastly,  by 
the  same  spirit  are  opened  on  our  souls  such  views  of  the 
perfection  we  ought  to  aim  at,  such  bright  glimpses  of  the 
graces  we  ought  to  seek, — such  as  the  grace  of  holiness,  the 
grace  of  patience,  the  graces  of  meekness,  and  temperance, 
and  brotherly  love,  and  self-denial, — that,  while  we  feel  our 
natural  want  of  power  to  attain  to  such  heavenly  heights  of 
godliness,  our  souls  are  nevertheless  stirred  to  long  for  them 
and  strive  after  them,  knowing  that,  though  without  God  we 
can  do  nothing,  yet  by  his  help  we  can  do- all  things. 
These  thoughts  and  feelings  the  spirit  of  grace  awakens  and 
kindles  in  us ;  and  by  so  doing  it  becomes  the  spirit  of  sup- 
plication. For  it  is  as  impossible,  when  the  fire  is  put  to  the 
w^ood,  that  the  flame  and  smoke  on  a  clear  day  should  not 
rise  upward,  as  that,  when  a  heart  is  warmed  by  these  holy 
feelings,  the  sweet  incense  of  fervent  prayer  should  not  rise 
from  it  to  God  the  Father.  Rather  will  such  a  man  always 
be  offering,  not  the  offering  of  his  lips  indeed,  but  the  far 
more  precious  one  of  his  heart.  His  thoughts,  his  feelings, 
his  hopes,  his  wishes,  will  at  all  times  look  and  soar  heaven- 
ward. As  the  excellent  Bishop  Taylor  has  beautifully  ex- 
pressed it,  his  whole  life  will  be  one  continual  prayer. 


XXIX. 

PRAY  WITH  THE  UNDERSTANDING. 

I  Cor.  xiv.  15, 

I  will  pray  with  the  spirit ;  and  I  will  pray  with  the  under- 
standing also. 

/^F  praying  with  the  spirit  I  have  spoken  to  you  already. 
^-^^  But  this,  with  all  its  importance,  is  not  enough  :  we 
must  pray  with  the  understanding  also.  The  reason  is 
clear.  We  are  God's  property.  Whatever  we  may  possess, 
— be  it  the  powers  of  our  bodies,  or  the  faculties  of  our 
minds,  or  the  feelings  of  our  hearts, — all  were  made  by  him. 
Therefore  of  right  they  all  belong  to  him ;  and  we  only  hold 
them  under  him,  as  tenants  at  will.  Now  it  is  the  duty  of 
tenants  to  pay  rent :  and  rent  accordingly  God  demands  of 
us.  But  what  sort  of  rent  ?  Rent  in  kind  ;  a  portion,  yes, 
and  the  best  portion  of  every  improvable  faculty  he  has 
entrusted  to  us.  When  God  gave  the  promised  land  to  the 
Jews,  he  reserved  the  first-fruits  for  himself.  The  first-fruits 
of  their  wine  and  oil  were  to  be  set  apart ;  so  were  the  first- 
lings of  their  flocks  and  herds  ;  and  so  was  the  fat  of  all  the 
beasts  that  they  killed.  These  things  were  a  sort  of  reserved 
rent,  which  God  kept  for  himself,  out  of  the  abundance  of 
the  good  things  wherewith  he  enriched  his  people:  and 
they   were   to   be   employed  as   he  appointed  in  his  law, 


PRAY   WITH    THE   UNDERSTANDING.  347 

partly  in  sacririce,  partly  in  the  support  of  his  ministers. 
Now  we  are  God's  heavenly  people,  just  as  the  Jews  were 
his  earthly  people.  As  they  were  bound  to  set  apart  a 
choice  portion  of  all  the  produce  of  their  land  for  him,  who 
was  their  earthly  king,  so  ought  we  to  ofier  and  dedicate  to 
our  heavenly  king  a  like  portion  of  all  the  produce  of  our 
souls. 

Were  the  Jews  to  pay  God  first-fruits  ?  So  should  we. 
Listen  to  this,  ye  young ;  for  this  more  particularly  concerns 
you.  You  have  still  all  your  first-fruits  before  you.  You, 
and  you  alone,  still  have  that  most  precious  of  all  first-fruits, 
the  first-fruits  of  your  lives.  Ofter  them  to  God,  by  giving 
yourselves  up  to  him,  soul  and  body,  while  you  are  yet 
young.  Believe  me,  who  am  somewhat  older ;  or  else  ask 
the  oldest  man  amongst  us,  and,  if  he  was  not  religious  in 
early  life,  he  will  tell  you  he  is  sorry  for  it  now :  if  he  was, 
he  will  bid  you,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  (xxxvii.  38), 
"  Keep  innocency,  and  take  heed  to  the  thing  that  is  right ; 
for  that  brings  a  man  peace  at  the  last."  Offer  the  first- 
fruits  of  your  lives  to  God,  and  he  will  greatly  increase  your 
strength ;  he  will  enable  you  to  withstand  temptation,  and 
will  make  you  men,  in  St.  Paul's  sense  of  the  word,  even 
men  after  the  pattern  of  Jesus  Christ  himself. 

Again,  were  the  Jews  to  offer  the  firstlings  of  their  flocks? 
So  should  we.  You,  parents,  should  offer  him,  and  rear  up 
for  his  service,  those  children  who  have  been  made  lambs 
of  Christ's  flock  by  their  baptism.  You  should  begin  from 
the  very  first, — you  cannot  begin  too  early, — to  train  them 
up  by  your  teaching  and  example  to  be  a  holy  generation 
to  the  Lord.  For  think  of  the  trust  which  God  puts  into 
your  hands,  when  he  gives  you  children.  Think  what  a 
child  is;  that  it  is  an  unfledged  angel,  who  has  fallen  to 
earth  from  a  great  height,  just  as  a  young  bird  sometimes 
falls  out  of  its  nest,  and  breaks  its  wings.     Thus  our  wings 


348  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

also,  my  brethren,  thus  the  child's  wings  are  broken  by  the 
fall :  and  God  sends  the  young  creature  to  us,  to  rear  it, 
and  do  our  best  to  cure  it,  and  so  to  train  it  up  for  finding 
its  way  back  to  heaven. 

Lastly,  were  the  Jews  to  set  apart  the  fat  of  every  animal, 
and  to  offer  it  in  sacrifice  to  God  ?  This  should  teach  us 
to  set  apart  a  goodly  portion,  the  fat,  as  it  were,  of  all  our 
faculties,  to  be  employed  in  the  christian  sacrifice  of  prayer. 
Such  is  the  rent  we  are  to  pay  to  God  for  the  many  blessings 
he  has  bestowed  on  us :  out  of  every  one  of  them  we  are  to 
give  him  back  that  which  is  choicest  and  best. 

Thus  much,  I  trust,  is  clear.  If  so,  the  duty  of  praying 
with  the  understanding  will  not  need  many  Avords.  For  of 
all  the  powers  and  faculties  that  God  has  given  us  in  trust, 
the  chief  is  the  reason  or  understanding.  It  is  this  that 
distinguishes  us  from  the  brute  animals.  It  is  this  that  raises 
us  to  be  only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  and  that  fits  us 
to  be  candidates  for  heaven.  Therefore,  being  our  chief 
gift,  we  are  in  duty  bound  to  employ  it  in  the  service  of 
God. 

Some  of  you  will  perhaps  tell  me,  that  it  is  not  our  under- 
standing, but  our  speech  that  distinguishes  us  from  the 
brute  animals,  and  will  remind  me  that  for  this  reason  they 
are  so  often  called  dumb  creatures,  to  mark  the  difterence 
between  them  and  us.  It  is  true,  they  are  so  called,  and 
very  justly  :  for  speech  is  one  of  the  main  advantages  which 
we  enjoy  over  the  beasts  of  the  field.  But  it  is  not  our  only 
advantage  over  them  ;  nor  is  it  the  chief.  You  will  see  this 
in  a  moment,  by  minding  what  speech  is.  It  is  not  the 
mere  power  of  making  sounds  and  noises :  most  of  the 
animals  that  we  call  dumb  can  do  this.  Speech  is  the 
power,  not  of  making  ourselves  heard  merely,  but  of  making 
ourselves  understood.  It  is  the  power  of  telling  each  other 
what  we  think  and  feel,  the  utterance  of  one  understanding 


'RAY    WITH    THE    UNDERSTANDING.  349 


to  another  understanding.  Unless  speech  does  this,  unless 
it  expresses  either  thoughts  or  feelings,  it  misses  its  proper 
mark,  and  becomes  unmeaning  gabble,  no  better  than  the 
blustering  of  the  wind.  Yet  how  many,  when  they  pray, 
that  is,  when  they  speak  to  God, — for  prayer  is  nothing  else 
than  speaking  earnestly  to  God  about  the  things  we  need 
and  wish  for, — how  many,  when  they  come  to  church,  send 
their  thoughts  and  feelings  wandering  after  other  matters, 
and  behave  as  if  they  fancied  the  sound  of  the  words  and 
the  motion  of  the  lips  would  be  enough  !  Is  this  praying? 
It  is  not  even  speaking.  For  speaking  requires  thought : 
yet  these  people  give  no  thought  to  what  they  say.  It  is 
merely  repeating  a  string  of  sounds,  which  will  draw  down 
anything  but  a  blessing. 

God  has  showered  down  his  spiritual  blessings  upon  you, 
and  has  placed  you  amid  opportunities  for  learning  his  will 
greater  almost  than  are  enjoyed  by  any  other  nation.  You 
are  not  stinted  in  the  means  for  becoming  holy  and  godly. 
Churches,  services,  sacraments,  Bible,  Prayerbook  ...  an 
Englishman  in  a  country  village  has  them  all ;  or  it  is  his 
own  fault  if  he  has  not.  Sunday  after  Sunday,  from  the 
reading-desk  and  the  pulpit,  you  may  all  hear  in  your  own 
tongue  the  wonderful  works  of  God.  God  of  his  free  bounty 
has  done  all  this  for  you.  He  might  have  cast  your  lots,  as 
he  has  that  of  so  many  others,  among  the  benighted  heathens, 
among  the  poor  negroes,  among  the  most  ignorant  and 
wretched  of  mankind.  Instead  of  this,  he  has  cast  your 
lot  here,  in  a  Protestant  and  a  free  land,  amid  an  over- 
flowing abundance  of  all  the  outward  means  of  grace  and 
knowledge.  God,  I  say,  has  done  all  this  for  you :  what 
ought  you  then  to  do  for  him  in  return?  You  ought  to 
bless  him  from  the  bottom  of  your  hearts  for  giving  you  all 
these  means  of  becoming  wise  unto  salvation ;  and  you 
ought  to  shew  your  sense  of  his  goodness  by  prizing  those 


350  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

means,  and  by  making  a  right  use  of  them.  If  you  do  not 
use  and  apply  them  for  the  purposes  for  which  God  intends 
them, — if  you  do  not  learn  by  their  help  to  love  his  holy 
law  and  to  keep  it, — the  means,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned, 
are  thrown  away :  and  you  will  be  in  the  unhappy  situation 
of  the  persons  spoken  of  by  our  Saviour,  who,  having  been 
first,  became  last.  Having  been  first  in  advantages,  first  in 
opportunities,  first  in  the  clearness  and  frequency  with  which 
God  called  you  to  come  to  heaven,  you  by  your  own  lazi- 
ness and  carelessness  will  become  last,  and  will  have  the 
pain  and  shame  of  seeing  the  very  heathens  admitted  into 
heaven  before  you.  "  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth"  (says  our  Lord  to  the  Jews,  Luke  xiii.  28),  "when 
ye  shall  see  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  all  the 
prophets,  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust 
out."  So  would  he  say  to  the  unprofitable  Christian  : 
"  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth :  for  you 
will  see  those  holy  men,  the  confessors  and  martyrs  of  the 
English  church,  by  whose  labours  the  Scriptures  were 
translated,  the  Prayerbook  was  put  together,  the  Psalms, 
Lessons,  Litany,  and  Collects  were  selected  and  appointed 
to  be  read  in  the  order  best  fitted  to  awaken  and  instruct 
the  people, — you  will  see  these  holy  men,  who,  having  thus 
gathered  together  such  a  rich  treasure  of  godliness  for  the 
use  of  their  countrymen,  became  martyrs,  and  laid  down 
their  lives  gladly,  rather  than  let  the  Church  of  England  be 
thrown  back  into  ignorance  and  error, — you  will  see  these 
glorious  men,  for  these  their  pious  works,  high  in  the  sun- 
shine of  God's  favour ;  and  you  will  feel  that,  if  you  had 
profited  by  the  treasures  they  bequeathed  to  you,  if  you  had 
made  a  right  use  of  the  means  of  grace  which  those  martyrs 
bought  for  you  at  the  price  of  their  blood,  you,  according 
to  your  degree,  would  have  been  where  they  are,  and  would 
have  had  places  at  the  same  table.     But  you  rejected  all 


PRAY    WITH    THE    UNDERSTANDING.  35 


warning  while  it  was  time.  Therefore  from  being  first  you 
are  become  last,  and  must  inherit  the  portion  of  the  last. 
You  must  go  away  from  heaven  into  outer  darkness,  afar 
from  the  blessed  sight  of  God's  countenance."  This  is  the 
language  which  Jesus  Christ  would  address  to  a  careless 
and  unprofitable  Christian.  This  is  the  language  which  by 
me,  his  minister,  he  does  address  to  such  as  neglect  to  profit 
by  the  means  of  grace,  to  such  as  neglect  to  pray  both  with 
the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding.  If  there  be  any  such 
among  you  to  him  have  these  words  been  spoken :  let  him 
lay  them  to  heart. 

Here  some  of  you  may  perhaps  answer  me,  that  you  do 
prize  the  means  and  the  books  of  grace,  that  you  have 
shewn  this  by  your  wish  to  get  Bibles  and  New  Testaments, 
and  that  you  are  fond  of  reading  them  now  you  have  got 
them,  and  of  hearing  them  read  by  others.  You  do  well. 
But  do  you  also  prize  the  Prayerbook  ?  I  fear  not.  I 
should  have  had  more  applications  for  Prayerbooks,  and 
should  see  more  of  them  in  church.  Without  a  Prayerbook, 
a  man,  unless  he  has  a  very  good  memory  indeed,  cannot 
go  along  with  the  minister  through  the  service;  and  the 
poor  man  who  does  not  follow  the  service  in  church,  loses 
the  best  opportunity  of  religious  instruction  which  a  grown- 
up person  can  have.  By  attending  to  the  prayers  in  church, 
you  may  be  taught  to  pray  :  you  will  learn  what  to  ask  for, 
and  may  learn  too  by  degrees  how  to  ask  for  it.  The  ser- 
vice is  indeed  intended  for  the  good  of  those  who  cannot 
read,  as  well  as  of  those  who  can  :  and  even  the  former,  if 
they  will  take  pains,  and  do  their  best  to  listen  to  the 
minister,  will  learn  after  a  few  Sundays  to  repeat  parts  of 
the  prayers,  or  at  all  events  to  know  what  comes  next ;  and 
so  may  add  their  secret  wishes  to  the  words  which  are 
uttered  in  their  ears.  I  was  once  told  of  a  very  old  and 
very  poor  woman,  who  was  forced  by  weakness  and  sickness 


;^^2  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

to  keep  her  bed,  and  who  in  this  state  used  to  spend  much 
of  her  time  in  repeating  collects  and  other  prayers.  A  lady, 
who  often  visited  the  poor  woman,  asked  her  one  day,  how 
it  came  that  she  could  say  so  many  prayers,  seeing  she  had 
never  been  at  school,  and  could  not  read.  "  It  is  very 
true,"  said  the  good  woman,  "  I  never  learnt  to  read.  But 
I  have  been  a  churchgoer  all  my  life;  and  one  Sunday  I 
brought  away  a  few  words  of  a  prayer ;  and  the  next  Sunday 
I  brought  away  a  few  words  more ;  and  so  by  degrees  I 
learnt  to  say  a  great  many  of  them.  And  now  nobody  can 
think  the  comfort  they  are  to  me,  and  the  pleasure  it  gives 
me  to  say  them."  A  comfort  indeed  they  must  have  been 
to  her  even  here :  and  the  Lord,  Avho  accej^ted  the  widow's 
mite,  will  not  fail  to  accept  her  prayers,  and  to  reward  her 
for  them  hereafter.  Now  there  is  nothing  in  what  this 
woman  did,  which  every  one  else  may  not  do  just  as  well. 
If  it  were  the  custom  in  our  churches,  as  it  is  in  some  places, 
for  the  minister  to  pray  out  of  his  own  head,  the  old  woman 
might  have  listened  all  her  life  without  being  able  to  learn  a 
single  prayer.  But  as  it  is,  those  among  you  who  cannot 
read,  and  who  have  not  the  means  of  learning,  may  still 
follow  her  example.  In  doing  so  the  way  would  be  to  begin 
with  one  of  the  shorter  prayers,  such  as,  "  Lighten  our  dark- 
ness, we  beseech  thee,  O  Lord ; "  and,  after  learning  this  bit 
by  bit,  to  go  on  to  others  that  are  longer.  Mind  however, 
this  is  only  for  those  who  cannot  learn  to  read  :  all  who  can, 
are  bound  to  learn ;  and,  when  they  have  learnt,  let  them 
read  their  Prayerbook,  and  endeavour  to  pray  with  the 
understanding. 

It  is  a  blessed  thing  for  every  man,  for  a  poor  and  ignorant 
man  it  is  most  blessed,  to  live  in  a  land  where,  once  at  least 
every  week,  he  may  hear  and  be  reminded  of  his  duty  to 
God.  You  may  now  and  then  pick  up  something  from  a 
neighbour,  who  hapi^ens  to  have  been  better  tauglu :   but 


PRAY   WITH    THE    UNDERSTANDING.  353 

how  few  will  be  at  the  pains  of  doing  this  !  No  one  who  is 
so  careless  about  heavenly  things,  as  not  to  do  his  best  to 
learn  in  church,  is  likely  to  take  much  pleasure  in  religious 
talk  out  of  church.  Indeed  for  those  who  cannot  read, 
church  is  almost  the  only  opportunity  of  learning  the  will  of 
God,  and  all  that  Christ  has  done  for  men.  For  those  who 
can  read  too,  even  for  those  who  well  know  and  understand 
all  the  main  truths  contained  in  the  Bible,  the  church-service 
is  of  great  use,  in  stirring  up  their  recollection  of  them.  For 
this  world  is  like  the  enchanted  ground  which  we  read  of  in 
the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  the  air  of  which  was  apt  to  produce 
drowsiness  in  such  as  had  occasion  to  pass  over  it.  In  like 
manner  do  the  cares  and  business  and  pleasures  of  life  take 
up  and  lull  our  minds,  until  we  fall  asleep  on  the  road  to 
heaven.  So  that  the  very  best  of  us  has  need  of  a  friendly 
shake  to  waken  and  rouse  him  from  time  to  time.  Nor  did 
any  man  ever  keep  away  from  church,  unless  on  account  of 
illness,  for  six  months  together,  without  being  sensibly  the 
worse  for  it:  though  he  may  not  be  aware  of  this  himself; 
because  he  will  not  examine  himself  regularly,  nor  take  a 
full  and  true  account  of  his  thoughts  and  actions.  If  he  did 
he  would  find  that  his  piety  had  slackened,  that  his  love  to 
God  had  grown  colder  :  happy,  if  he  did  not  also  find  that 
he  had  caught  some  bad  habit,  and  fallen  into  the  practice 
of  some  known  sin.  But  to  the  poor,  to  whom  the  church 
is  the  best  school,  and  often  the  only  one  they  can  go  to, — 
to  the  poor,  who  on  workdays  have  httle  leisure  for  reading, 
and  who  sometimes  know  not  how  to  read, — our  church- 
service  is  invaluable.  In  the  hope  of  leading  you  to  set  a 
due  store  by  it,  I  purpose  to  explain  it  to  you  hereafter ;  and 
with  God's  blessing  shall  go  through  the  Order  for  Morning 
Prayer,  with  the  view  of  enabling  you,  so  far  as  in  me  lies, 
to  pray,  as  befits  reasonable  beings,  and  as  St.  Paul  com- 
mands us,  with  the  understanding. 

A   A 


354  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

The  prayers  however  are  not  the  whole  of  the  Prayer- 
book  :  far  from  it.  There  are  also  those  beautiful  Psalms, 
which  are  fitted  above  all  other  writings  to  kindle  a  spirit  of 
devotion  in  the  heart.  Then  there  are  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles,  of  which  I  need  not  speak,  as  they  are  copied  word 
for  word  out  of  the  New  Testament.  They  shew  how  vain 
is  the  objection,  which  one  sometimes  hears  brought  against 
the  Prayerbook,  when  persons,  instead  of  judging  it  fairly, 
according  to  what  it  is  in  itself,  try  to  disparage  it  by  com- 
paring it  with  the  Bible,  and  speak  slightingly  of  it,  because 
it  is  the  work  of  man,  and  therefore  not  equal  to  the  work 
of  God.  They  might  as  well  speak  slightingly  of  a  house, 
because  that  too  is  the  work  of  man,  and  therefore  not  so 
grand  as  the  sky  above  our  heads,  which  was  created  by  the 
word  of  God.  There  is  a  very  simple  answer  to  such  objec- 
tions. We  have  need  of  both.  The  sky  was  not  meant  to 
keep  us  from  building  houses  to  shelter  ourselves ;  nor  was 
the  Bible  meant  to  hinder  us  from  composing  prayers  to 
express  our  wants  and  desires.  But  the  fact  is,  that  nearly 
two-thirds  of  the  Prayerbook  are  taken  word  for  word  out  of 
the  Bible,  being  made  up  of  the  Psalms,  and  of  the  choicest 
and  most  useful  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  put  together 
for  the  edifying  of  the  people.  And  shall  we  not  prize  such 
a  work  ?  a  work,  nearly  two-thirds  of  which  are  Scripture, — 
a  work,  the  whole  of  which  is  founded  on  Scripture, — a  work, 
by  which  the  spiritual  necessities  of  every  class  amongst  us 
are  plentifully  suppHed.  Shall  we  not  love  such  a  book  ?  If 
we  do,  let  us  show  our  love  by  making  a  worthy  use  of  it. 

Many  persons,  I  believe,  who  try  to  learn  from  the  sermon 
and  from  the  Lessons,  attend  very  little  to  the  prayers.  But 
this  is  a  sad  mistake.  For  the  privilege  of  praying  to  him  is 
the  greatest  that  God  has  given  to  us.  He  who  does  not 
pray,  neglects  this  privilege,  and  throws  away  the  oppor- 
tunity afforded  him  of  speaking  to  God  himself.   So  far  from 


PRAY   WITH    THE    UNDERSTANDING.  355 

not  caring  about  the  prayers,  you  should  say  to  yourselves, 
before  you  come  to  church,  "  I  am  going  to  the  court  of  my 
King  and  my  God,  who  is  my  Father  also.  I  am  going  to 
speak  to  God  himself.  It  is  true  I  cannot  see  him  :  but 
the  Bible  teaches  me  that,  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  Christ's  name,  there  Christ  is  in  the  midst  of 
them.  So  that  I  know  he  will  be  there.  I  will  not  be  afraid 
to  speak  to  him  :  for  the  apostle  exhorts  us  to  come  boldly 
to  the  throne  of  grace  that  we  may  obtain  mercy  and  help. 
I  want  mercy  from  God ;  for  I  often  sin  against  him.  I  want 
help  from  him ;  for  I  am  often  tempted  to  disobey  him  ;  and 
I  know  my  own  weakness  too  well  to  put  any  trust  in  myself. 
This  mercy  and  this  help,  which  I  have  such  great  need  of, 
I  will  ask  from  God  this  morning.  I  will  ask  boldly,  as  a 
son  would  ask  a  favour  from  a  kind  and  rich  father :  but  I 
will  ask  reverently,  as  I  ought,  when  speaking  to  my  King 
and  God."  If  people  would  come  to  church  with  thoughts 
of  this  kind,  the  service  would  no  longer  be  tedious  to 
them.  Anything  is  tedious  and  tiresome,  in  which  we  feel 
no  interest.  It  would  be  tiresome,  if  we  had  lost  our  appe- 
tite, to  be  forced  to  sit  through  a  long  dinner  :  but  no  hungry 
man  ever  complained  of  its  being  tiresome  to  sit  dowTi  to  a 
table  covered  with  dainty  meats.  So,  if  a  man  feels  no  appe- 
tite for  prayer,  the  church-service  will  seem  long  and  tiresome 
to  him ;  and  he  will  be  disposed  to  say,  with  the  profane 
Israelites,  "  What  a  weariness  is  this  !"  (Mai.  i.  13.)  But  he 
who  hungers  after  righteousness,  he  who  feels  he  has  much 
to  ask  for,  will  duly  prize  the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to 
speak  to  God  :  he  will  make  the  most  of  the  opportunity 
which  our  service  gives  him  of  addressing  his  heavenly 
Father  and  King :  he  will  be  thankful  that  such  good  words 
are  put  into  his  mouth,  to  teach  him  how  to  pray.  The 
service  will  become  a  matter  of  real  business  to  him.  He 
will  be  desirous  of  learning;  and  so  he  will  learn.     He  will 


356  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


be  greedy  of  obtaining  blessings;   and  so  he  will  obtain 
them.     Our  Saviour's  promise  to  those  who  hunger  after 
righteousness  will  be  accomplished  in  him  :  he  will  be  filled. 
Here  let  me  remind  you,  how  bountiful  your  heavenly 
Father  has  been  to   you,  in   ordaining  that   every  Sunday 
should  be  a  day  of  rest,  on  which  you  should  have  no  other 
labour,  no  other  employment,  than  that  of  learning  to  do  his 
will.     Think  what   rich,  what   abundant   opportunities  for 
that  purpose  the  holy  rest  of  the  sabbath  gives  you.     One 
often  hears  people  complaining  that  they  have  no  time  to 
make  themselves  acquainted  with  God,  and  his  works,  and 
his  ways,  and  his  will.     Whose  fault  must  that  be  ?     As- 
suredly it  must  be  their  own.     God  has  given  them  time 
enough.     My  brethren,  did  you  ever  call  to  mind  that  a 
seventh  part  of  your  whole  lives  is  made  up  of  Sundays  ? 
One  week  in  every  seven  is  a  week  of  Sundays.     One  month 
in  every  seven  is  a  month  of  Sundays.     One  year  in  every 
seven  is  a  year   of  Sundays.     A  year  of  Sundays !     And 
shall  any  one  dare  to  plead  that  he  has  not  had  time  to  learn 
the  will  of  God  ?     "  Not  time  enough  !  (the  Judge  will  an- 
swer :)  What  have  you  done  then  with  your  years  of  Sundays?" 
Let  us  take  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  say  at  six  or  seven 
and  thirty,  cut  off  and  summoned  into  the  presence  of  Christ. 
What  opportunities,  what  time,  think  you,  has  that  man  had 
for  learning  his   duty  to   his    Maker?     Without   counting 
infancy  and  early  childhood,  he  has  had  four  good  years  of 
Sundays, — four  years  during  which  it  ought  to  have  been 
his  special  business  to  listen  to  God's  word  read  and  preached, 
to  pray  to  God  in  the  great  congregation,  and  then,  in  the 
(]uict  of  his  home,  to  think  over  what  he  has  heard,  what 
he  has  asked  for,  what  he  has  promised.     So  plentifully  has 
God  i)rovi(led  for  the  nurture  of  our  souls  in  godliness  :  he 
has  set  apart  a  seventh  of  our  whole  lives,  ten  years  out  of 
the  age  of  man,  during  which  we  are  commanded  to  abstain 


PRAY   WITH   THE   UNDERSTANDING.  357 

from  every  other  work,  that  we  may  give  ourselves  wholly 
to  the  most  important  of  all  works,  that  of  learning  the  way 
to  heaven. 

Only  remember  that  these,  and  all  other  religious  exer- 
cises, as  they  are  often  called, — and  the  word  is  a  very  fit 
and  proper  one, — are  to  be  valued  and  regarded  by  us  as 
means,  not  as  ends.  The  end,  the  desirable  end  and  object, 
which  we  ought  all  to  have  in  view,  is  to  become  holy  and 
godly.  But  the  means,  the  exercises  appointed  by  our 
Saviour,  whereby  we  are  to  become  holy  and  godly,  are  his 
sacraments,  prayer,  public  and  private,  and  the  reading  and 
teaching  of  his  word.  These  are  the  means  afforded  us  for 
becoming  holy  and  godly :  without  using  these  means  we 
cannot  become  so  :  by  a  right  use  of  them  we  may.  Still 
the  means  are  not  the  end.  The  road  which  leads  to  Lon- 
don is  not  London.  If  a  man  once  gets  to  confound  these 
two  things,  and  to  mistake  one  for  the  other, — if  he  gets  to 
fancy  that  saying  prayers  is  holiness,  that  coming  to  church 
is  godliness, — his  error  is  most  dangerous,  and,  if  he  is  not 
cured  of  it,  will  be  deadly.  In  the  case  of  the  road  this  is 
plain  enough.  If  you  saw  a  traveller  sitting  by  the  road- 
side, and  he  told  you  he  was  going  to  London,  you  would 
say  to  him,  "  This  is  the  road ;  get  up,  and  walk  along ; 
and,  if  you  keep  straight  on,  you  will  get  there  in  time." 
So  do  we,  God's  ministers,  say  to  all  such  as  have  the  form 
of  godliness,  without  the  power,  to  all  who  come  to  church, 
without  striving  to  obey  God  when  they  are  out  of  church, 
to  all  such  we  say,  "  You  have  the  right  means,  if  you  would 
only  use  them :  you  have  learnt  God's  will,  if  you  would 
only  endeavour  to  do  it.  Practise,  practise,  practise  what 
you  learn  :  quicken  your  steps  ;  move  onward  along  the 
road  to  heaven  ;  give  over  slumbering  and  loitering  by  the 
way." 

But  suppose  the  traveller,  instead  of  following  your  ad- 


35$  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


vice,  were  to  say,  "  No,  I  shall  sit  on  where  I  am  :  for  this, 
you  yourself  tell  me,  is  the  road  to  London  :  so,  being  on 
the  right  road,  I  shall  soon  get  home."  Were  the  traveller 
to  make  you  such  an  answer,  what  would  you  think? 
Would  not  you  pity  him  as  crazed  in  mind  ?  would  not  you 
try  to  rouse  him  ?  would  not  you  warn  him  that  the  only 
home  he  was  likely  to  get  to  was  his  last  home  ?  that  he 
would  soon  starve  or  be  frozen  to  death,  if  he  did  not  jump 
up  and  move  on  quickly  ?  What  then  !  are  you  not  quite 
as  much  to  be  pitied,  do  you  not  quite  as  much  need  to  be 
warned,  if  you  persist  in  the  very  same  mistake  about  your 
heavenly  journey,  and  lie  motionless,  fancying  that  it  is 
enough  to  know  and  see  the  road,  without  troubling  your- 
selves to  follow  it  ?  So  far  is  this  from  being  enough,  that 
better  were  it  to  be  born  a  poor  ignorant  Turk  or  heathen, 
better,  much  better  were  it  for  a  man  never  to  have  seen  a 
church,  never  to  have  heard  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  than 
to  have  all  the  religious  advantages  vouchsafed  to  us  Eng- 
lishmen, if  he  rests  lazily  satisfied  with  the  forms  of  holi- 
ness, without  endeavouring  to  obtain  the  substance.  To 
pray  with  the  lips,  if  that  is  all  we  do,  is  nothing,  and  worse 
than  nothing.  To  pray  with  the  understanding,  if  that  is  all 
we  do,  is  nothing,  and  worse  than  nothing.  We  must  pray 
with  the  lips  and  with  the  understanding,  and  above  all  we 
must  pray  at  the  same  time  with  the  spirit.  And  this  we 
cannot  do,  unless  we  are  in  earnest  in  our  prayers,  unless  our 
heart  is  in  them,  unless  we  are  sincerely  striving  to  abide  in 
God's  holy  law,  and  to  walk  in  all  his  commandments. 


XXX. 

LITURGY:  First  Part. 
CONFESSION. 

Psalm  xxxviii.  i8. 
I  will  confess  my  wickedness,  and  be  sorry  for  ray  sin. 

TT  AVING  already  spoken  to  you  about  the  great  neces- 
•*■  -^  sity  and  importance  of  praying  with  the  understanding, 
that  is,  of  understanding  and  knowing  and  thinking  what 
you  are  saying  and  asking  for  in  your  praises  and  prayers  to 
God,  I  shall  now  try  to  help  you  in  doing  so,  by  setting 
before  you  the  general  bearing  and  purport  of  the  service 
you  are  accustomed  to  hear  in  church,  and  shall  add  such 
remarks  on  particular  prayers,  as  it  may  seem  to  me  that  you 
will  be  the  better  for.  That  general  bearing  and  purport 
you  will  find  it  easier  to  make  out,  if  we  divide  what  is 
called  the  Order  for  Morning  Prayer  into  three  parts,  in- 
cluding the  Litany.  The  first  part  begins  at  the  beginning, 
and  ends  with  the  Lord's  prayer.  This  may  be  called  the 
Confession,  the  chief  thing  we  do  in  it  being  to  confess  our 
sins.  The  second  part  begins  with,  "  O  Lord,  open  thou 
our  lips  !  "  and  goes  down  to  the  end  of  the  Belief.  This 
part  I  would  call  the  Psalms  and  Lessons  :  not  only  because 
the  Psalms,  commonly  so  calledj  and  the  chapters  chosen 


360  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

from  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  form  far  the  largest  por- 
tion of  it :  the  rest  of  it  likewise  well  deserves  the  same 
name.  For  what  is  that  glorious  Te  Deum,  which  we  repeat 
after  the  first  Lesson,  but  a  hymn  or  psalm,  in  which  we 
praise  God  for  all  the  wonderful  and  glorious  works  of  his 
almighty  power  and  love  ?  And  what  is  the  BeUef  but  a 
lesson  ?  a  lesson  of  faith,  to  teach  the  young,  and  to  remind 
the  older,  of  the  great  truths  they  are  to  hold  to  as  members 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  third  part,  which  begins  with 
"  Let  us  pray,"  and  ends  with  "  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ," — is  made  up  of  the  Collects  and  the  Litany,  which 
may  be  classed  together  under  the  common  name  of  Prayers. 
These  may  be  regarded  as  the  three  main  parts  of  the 
Morning  Service,  exclusive  of  the  Communion  Service  and 
the  Sermon.  Each  of  them  •  has  a  different  subject,  a  dif- 
ferent purport :  each  has,  so  to  say,  a  different  keynote. 
The  keynote  of  the  first  part  is  repentance :  the  keynote 
of  the  second  part  is  praise :  the  keynote  of  the  third  part 
is  prayer. 

What  has  just  been  said  of  the  Morning  Service,  you 
will  easily  see,  applies  to  the  Evening  Service  also ;  which 
differs  from  the  Morning  Service  in  little  else  than  in  having 
no  Litany.  Thus  you  may  be  enabled  to  take  a  sort  of 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole ;  and  having  seen  what  are  the 
chief  limbs  or  members  which  make  up  the  body  of  our 
Common  Prayer,  you  will  be  better  able  to  perceive  how  its 
various  parts  hang  together,  and  what  is  the  use  and  pur- 
pose of  each,  according  to  the  place  it  fills.  Thus  too  will 
you  find  less  difficulty  in  following  me  while  I  go  through 
them  in  detail. 

The  service  opens,  you  know,  with  certain  sentences  of 
Scripture,  one  or  more  of  which  the  minister  is  to  read 
with  a  loud  voice,  that  everybody  may  hear  them.  These 
sentences  all  teach  the  same  truth, — that  it  is  our  duty  to 


CONFESSION.  361 


confess  our  sins  with  our  lips,  to  grieve  over  them  and  re- 
nounce them  with  our  hearts,  and  to  forsake  them  in  our 
lives  ;  and  they  assure  us  that,  if  a  man  do  this,  God  will 
graciously  forgive  him,  and  take  him  back  into  favour. 
This  is  the  great,  the  most  comfortable  truth,  which  these 
sentences  agree  in  declaring :  and  because  they  all  agree  in 
declaring  the  same  truth,  it  is  needless  for  the  minister  to 
read  more  than  one  or  two  of  them.  Did  they  teach  dif- 
ferent truths,  it  might  be  proper  to  read  them  all.  But  as 
it  is,  if  a  man  is  only  ready  to  take  God  at  his  word,  one 
clear  assurance  of  forgiveness  will  be  enough  to  set  his 
doubts  at  rest.  Else,  if  he  is  not  satisfied  with  the  clearness 
and  fullness  of  the  assurance,  as  he  hears  it  read  by  the 
minister,  if  he  wants  more  than  one  assurance  to  quiet  his 
fears  in  a  matter  of  such  great  moment,  he  has  all  the  eleven 
sentences  in  his  Prayerbook,  with  a  direction  to  the  chapter 
each  comes  from :  so  he  has  only  to  take  down  his  Bible, 
when  he  gets  home,  and  to  turn  to  the  passages.  Thus, 
by  comparing  scripture  with  scripture,  he  may  convince 
himself,  that  God  is  indeed  gracious  and  merciful,  and 
ready  to  forgive  and  receive  the  humble  and  contrite 
sinner. 

You  will  have  no  trouble  in  understanding  why  this 
assurance  is  placed  at  the  very  opening  of  the  service.  The 
chief  purpose  of  our  coming  to  church  is,  or  at  least  ought 
to  be,  to  pray  to  God.  But  to  pray  to  God,  unless  we  be- 
lieved and  knew  that  God  would  hear  our  prayers,  would 
be  mere  idleness.  Therefore  are  we  told  that  he  will  hear 
us,  yea  that,  sinners  as  we  are,  he  will  hear  us,  and  that,  if 
we  will  confess  and  repent  of  our  sins,  he  will  pardon  us 
and  take  us  into  favour.  This  is  the  great  thing  we  need  to 
know :  knowing  this  we  may  have  boldness  to  ofier  up  our 
prayers  before  the  throne  of  grace. 

But  we  will  look  at  these  passages  a  little  closer,  that  you 


362  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

may  understand  how  full  the  assurance  is  which  they  give 
us,  how  plain,  how  satisfactory,  how  well  fitted  for  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men.  The  first  of  them  is  taken  from  the 
1 8th  chapter  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel :  "  When  the  wicked 
man  turneth  away  from  his  wickedness,  and  doeth  that 
which  is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall  save  his  soul  alive."  Now 
the  natural  question  for  a  man  to  ask,  when  he  hears  this 
sentence  read  for  the  first  time,  is,  "  Who  says  this  ?  how 
does  the  prophet  know  this  ?  what  authority  has  he  to  make 
such  a  promise?  may  I  rely  upon  the  truth  of  it?"  I 
answer.  You  may :  you  may  rely  upon  it  most  safely  :  for 
the  speaker  is  God  himself.  Look  at  the  first  verse  of  the 
chapter.  It  begins  thus  :  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to 
me  again,  saying."  For  this  promise  then  of  eternal  life  to 
the  wicked  who  turn  away  from  their  wickedness,  and  do 
that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  we  have  God's  own  word. 
And  who  can  doubt  that  word?  who  can  think  that,  though 
this  may  have  been  so  formerly,  it  is  not  so  now  ?  That 
word,  we  know,  standeth  fast  for  ever. 

The  same  holds  of  the  gracious  invitation  in  the  verse 
from  the  prophet  Joel.  That  too,  if  we  turn  to  the  passage, 
we  shall  find,  is  ushered  in  by  a  declaration,  that  it  comes 
from  God  himself.  "  The  day  of  the  Lord  (says  the  pro- 
I)het)  is  great  and  very  terrible;  and  who  can  abide  it? 
Therefore,  also  now,  saith  the  Lord,  turn  ye  to  me  with  all 
your  hearts :  and  rend  your  hearts,  and  not  your  garments, 
and  turn  to  the  Lord  your  God  :  for  he  is  gracious  and 
merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  of  great  kindness,  and  repenteth 
him  of  the  evil."  Here  again,  you  see,  we  have  God's  own 
word,  warning  us  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  assur- 
ing us  that,  if  we  do  so  with  hearty  sorrow,  we  shall  find 
that  he  is  gracious  and  merciful,  and  full  of  kindness,  and 
that  he  will  turn  away  from  his  anger,  and  will  only  visit  us 
with  his  love. 


CONFESSION.  363 


Perhaps  however  a  man  may  say  :  "  This  may  all  be  very 
true :  God  may  be  ready  to  shov/  mercy  to  others :  but  I 
am  too  great  a  sinner :  God  cannot  forgive  me  :  my  offences 
are  so  very  bad,  I  am  ashamed  to  confess  them  before  him." 
What  says  the  Bible  to  such  a  man  ?  Are  you  polluted 
with  worse  sins  than  David's  when  he  had  committed  adul- 
tery with  Bathsheba,  and  had  sent  her  husband  to  be  slain 
by  the  sword  of  the  children  of  Ammon  ?  Are  your  sins 
worse  than  adultery  and  treacherous  murder  ?  Yet  David 
turned  to  God ;  David  confessed  his  sins  ;  David  had 
courage  to  pray  to  God  :  so  should  you.  This  is  the  reason 
why  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  of  these  opening  sen- 
tences are  all  taken  from  the  fifty-first  Psalm ;  which  was 
written  in  the  bitterness  of  David's  sorrow,  after  the  pro- 
phet Nathan  had  brought  him  to  a  sense  of  his  heinous 
guilt. 

On  the  other  hand,  should  any  one  say,  "  I  have  nothing 
to  confess  or  repent  of;  I  never  did  anybody  any  harm;  I 
come  to  church  regularly  every  Sunday  ;  I  am  quite  as  good 
as  my  neighbours," — should  any  one  talk  in  this  foolish  way, 
— and  this  is  much  the  Hkelier  error  of  the  two,  inasmuch  as 
a  hundred  men  get  entangled  in  the  snares  of  presumption 
and  self-sufficiency,  for  one  who  falls  into  the  pit  of  despair, — 
for  such  presumptuous  talkers  there  is  an  answer  ready  in 
the  sentence  from  the  Book  of  Daniel,  which  stands  next  to 
the  one  from  the  prophet  Joel :  "  To  the  Lord  our  God 
belong  mercies  and  forgivenesses,  although  we  have  rebelled 
against  him,  and  have  not  obeyed  his  voice,  to  walk  in  his 
law,  which  he  set  before  us."  These  words  form  part  of  the 
prayer  which  Daniel  offered  up,  when,  to  use  his  own  words, 
he  was  confessing  his  sin,  and  the  sin  of  his  people.  He 
then  who  is  purer,  who  is  holier,  who  is  juster,  who  is  more 
innocent  than  Daniel  was,  let  him  do  as  he  pleases.  But 
let  all  others  be  taught  by  Daniel's  example  to  make  confes- 


364  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

sion  and  to  humble  themselves  before  God.  If  even  he,  on 
searching  his  life  closely,  discovered  sins  to  acknowledge 
and  bewail,  much  more  should  we  find  them,  if  we  looked 
for  them,  we  who  are  spotted  all  over  with  sin ;  I  do  not 
mean,  with  black  and  heinous  crimes,  but  with  a  number  of 
faults  and  offences,  which,  though  they  may  seem  trifles  in 
the  eyes  of  men,  are  sinful,  and  therefore  not  trifling,  in  the 
eyes  of  God.  Such  are  the  many  offences  of  the  tongue, — 
vain  talk,  idle  talk,  profane  talk,  angry  talk,  spiteful  talk. 
Such  again  are  the  many  offences  of  the  temper, — hastiness, 
pettishness,  peevishness,  fretfulness,  ill-humour.  Such  too 
are  the  many  kinds  of  evil  thoughts,  covetous  thoughts, 
envious  thoughts,  proud  thoughts,  lustful  thoughts, — those 
poisonous  serpents'  eggs,  which,  if  hatched  by  opportunity, 
are  sure  to  bring  forth  evil  deeds.  Lastly,  and  above  all, 
such  are  the  whole  tribe  of  our  offences  against  God, — our 
want  of  love  for  him,  our  never  thinking  about  him,  our 
coldness  in  his  service,  our  shaping  our  conduct  according 
to  our  own  fancies,  according  to  what  seems  good  in  our 
own  eyes,  and  not  according  to  his  holy  law,  our  being  con- 
tent to  do  as  others  do,  instead  of  striving  to  become  perfect 
as  God  is  perfect,  and  taking  his  word  for  the  rule  and 
pattern  of  our  lives.  All  these  offences  are  sinful  in  God's 
eyes  :  yet  I  will  venture  to  say,  there  is  not  one  of  the  do- 
no-harm  people,  who  has  not  been  guilty  of  many  of  these 
Dffences,  over  and  over  again,  who  is  not  guilty  of  several  of 
hem  daily,  with  the  addition  perhaps  of  many  foul  acts  of 
ntemperance,  not  to  speak  of  things  still  worse. 

Thus,  whatever  a  man's  way  of  life  may  be,  there  is  some- 
thing in  these  sentences  to  fit  his  case.  Is  he  plunged  in 
the  depths  of  evil?  Let  him  confess  his  wickedness,  like 
David,  and  be  sorry  for  his  sin.  Is  he  on  the  other  hand 
leading  an  innocent  and  holy  life?  Let  him  search  the 
secret  chambers  of  his  heart  by  the  light  of  God's  word,  and 


CONFESSION.  365 


then,  following  the  example  of  holy  Daniel,  acknowledge 
the  stains  he  will  be  sure  to  discover  there.  This  is  the 
lesson  taught  us  by  the  sentences  of  Scripture  with  which 
the  service  opens.  Those  I  have  spoken  of,  you  may  have 
observed,  are  all  taken  from  the  Old  Testament.  For  fear 
however  lest  this  should  give  rise  to  any  doubts  or  scruples, 
three  others  are  added  from  St.  Matthew,  St.  Luke,  and  St. 
John,  to  shew  how  completely  the  New  Testament  agrees 
on  this  head  with  the  Old,  and  to  admonish  us  that  repent- 
ance and  confession  are  quite  as  necessary  and  quite  as 
profitable  to  us  Christians,  as  they  were  to  the  Jews  before 
our  Saviour's  coming. 

After  the  minister,  by  reading  one  or  two  of  these  sentences, 
has  prepared  the  minds  of  his  congregation  for  the  duties 
they  are  met  to  perform,  he  goes  on  to  speak  to  them  about 
those  duties  in  that  which  is  commonly  called  the  Exhorta- 
tion. Many  people  seem  to  fancy  that  the  Exhortation  is  a 
prayer,  and  repeat  it  after  the  minister.  But  this  is  a  mistake. 
When  we  pray,  we  speak  to  God :  whereas  the  Exhortation 
is  addressed  by  the  minister  to  the  congregation,  as  everybody 
may  perceive  from  the  words  with  which  it  begins.  Its 
purpose  is  to  apply  the  foregoing  texts  of  Scripture  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  congregation,  and  to  exhort  or  advise 
them  to  join  in  the  general  Confession  which  follows.  This 
is  the  second  step  in  the  service.  The  first  was  to  prove 
out  of  the  Bible,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  confess 
his  sins,  to  grieve  over  them,  to  renounce  them,  and  to  for- 
sake them,  and  that,  if  he  does  so,  God  will  pardon  him. 
The  second  step  is  to  entreat  every  member  of  the  congrega- 
tion to  apply  these  steps  to  himself,  and  to  persuade  him  if 
possible,  to  confess  his  sins  with  a  humble,  lowly,  penitent,  and 
obedient  heart,  that  by  so  doing  he  may  obtain  forgiveness. 

Hitherto  the  congregation  have  had  nothing  to  do,  except 
to  listen  to   the   exhortation   of  the  minister,  and  to  the 


366  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

declaration  of  God's  gracious  mercy.  But  here  their  share 
in  the  service  begins.  After  the  Exhortation,  in  which  the 
minister  has  besought  them  to  confess  their  sins,  he  repeats 
the  general  Confession,  in  which  all  present  ought  to  join, 
kneeling  humbly  on  their  knees,  each  confessing  his  own 
sins  inwardly  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart.  That  you  may 
be  better  prepared  for  doing  this,  I  would  recommend  you 
all  to  spend  ten  minutes  or  so  every  Sunday  morning,  before 
you  come  to  church,  in  thinking  over  what  you  have  done 
in  the  course  of  the  last  week,  asking  yourselves  such  ques- 
tions as  these :  "  Have  I  prayed  to  God  regularly  and  heartily 
during  the  past  week  ?  Have  I  tried  to  govern  my  conduct 
according  to  his  holy  law  ?  Have  I  been  out  of  temper  ? 
Have  1  used  any  harsh  or  violent  or  bad  language,  in 
speaking  either  to  any  one  or  of  any  one  ?  Have  I  been 
unkind  to  anybody?  Have  I  been  merciful  to  the  poor 
dumb  creatures  entrusted  to  my  care  ?  Have  I  set  a  good 
example  to  my  household,  to  my  servants,  to  my  children  ? 
Have  I  done  my  duty  to  my  master  faithfully  and  diligently? 
Have  I  gladly  taken  every  opportunity  of  helping  or  com- 
forting my  neighbour?  Have  I  been  guilty  of  an  excess?" 
Questions  of  this  kind  are  soon  asked  ;  and  if  a  man  has  an 
honest,  open  heart,  and  does  not  set  about  cloaking  and 
excusing  his  sins,  they  may  soon  be  answered  also.  The 
answer  which  your  accusing  conscience  makes  to  any  of 
them,  should  furnish  the  matter  of  your  confession.  Such 
of  you  indeed  as  have  not  hitherto  accustomed  yourselves 
to  this  sort  of  self-examination,  will  perhaps  be  shocked  and 
frightened  at  first  at  having  so  great  a  host  of  sins  to  confess, 
which  you  have  overlooked  and  taken  no  thought  of;  just 
as  a  man  who  has  been  careless  in  keeping  his  accounts, 
finds  to  his  dismay,  when  he  begins  to  look  into  his  affairs, 
that  he  owes  debts  upon  debts  more  than  he  was  at  all 
prepared  for.    Eut  whose  fault  is  that  ?    Surely  not  the  fault 


CONFESSION. 


367 


of  his  honesty  in  examining  into  his  affairs  now,  but  that  of 
his  carelessness  in  not  having  examined  them  long  ago. 
Painful  as  the  examination  may  have  become,  from  having 
been  put  off  so  long,  every  day  it  is  put  off  it  will  grow  more 
painful  and  appalling.  Whereas,  if  you  set  about  it  steadily 
and  heartily  at  once,  the  pain  and  difficulty  will  every  week 
grow  less.  Short  accounts,  they  say,  make  long  friends, 
even  upon  earth.  Much  more  will  short  accounts,  such 
short  accounts  as  I  have  been  recommending  to  you,  make 
long,  yea  immortal  friends,  who  will  receive  you  into  ever- 
lasting habitations. 

When  a  man  has  thus  rubbed  and  brightened  the  looking- 
glass  of  his  conscience  before  he  comes  to  church,  and  by 
examining  it  carefully  has  found  out  all  the  spots  of  various 
kinds  which  have  stained  his  soul  during  the  week,  he  will 
be  ready  and  anxious  to  bear  his  part  in  the  general  Con- 
fession. He  will  join  in  it  with  the  spirit :  for  he  will  feel 
the  evil  of  sin,  and  his  need  of  pardon.  He  will  join  in  it 
with  the  understanding  also  :  for  he  will  know  how  to  apply 
the  different  parts  of  it  to  his  own  case.  Thus  spirit  and 
lips  and  understanding  will  unite  to  offer  up  z  holy  and 
acceptable  confession. 

But  what  does  the  Confession  consist  of?  It  begins  with 
a  full  and  entire  acknowledgment  of  our  sins, — that  "we 
have  erred  and  strayed  from  God's  ways,  like  lost  sheep." 
This  reminds  us  of  the  passage  in  the  prophet  Isaiah  (liii.  6), 
where  it  is  said,  that  "  all  we,  like  sheep,  have  gone  astray." 
Just  as  your  sheep  would  go  astray  on  the  downs,  if  they 
were  left  long  together  without  a  shepherd  or  a  dog  to  take 
care  of  them,  and  would  be  unable  to  find  their  way  back 
to  the  fold,  and  the  longer  they  were  left  to  themselves,  the 
further  they  would  stray,  so  we  too,  if  left  to  ourselves,  are 
sure  to  stray ;  so  we  do  stray  day  after  day,  and  week  after 
week,  and  what  would  become  of  us  unless  the  voice  of  the 


368  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


shepherd  sounded  in  our  ears  on  a  Sunday,  to  call  us  back 
to  the  fold  ?  As  Isaiah  goes  on  to  say,  "  We  have  turned 
ever}^  one  to  his  own  way ; "  or,  as  it  stands  in  our  Prayer- 
book,  "  we  have  followed  the  devices  and  desires  of  our  own 
hearts."  We  have  followed  them  too  much  :  indeed  we 
follow  them  too  much  in  following  them  at  all.  This  is  the 
sin,  on  account  of  which  the  prophet  Jeremiah  rebukes  the 
Israelites  (xviii.  12) ;  because  they  said,  "We  will  walk  after 
our  own  devices,  and  will  every  one  do  the  imagination  of 
his  evil  heart."  This  indeed  is  the  sum  and  substance  of 
our  sinfulness,  that  we  are  ever  following  our  own  devices, 
our  own  desires,  instead  of  the  commands  of  God.  There- 
fore are  we  for  ever  offending  against  God's  holy  laws.  For 
the  root  of  all  evil  is  our  choosing  to  have  a  will  of  our  own  : 
and  for  this  reason,  whatever  we  do,  so  long  as  our  natural 
will  is  not  broken  and  slain, — whatever  we  do,  though  we 
ourselves  may  think  it  innocent,  or  even  praiseworthy, — is 
sinful  in  the  sight  of  God.  Thus  we  ever  do  what  we  ought 
not  to  do,  and  leave  what  we  ought  to  do  undone  :  nor  is 
there  any  health  in  us.  We  cannot  of  ourselves  cure  this 
inborn  disease :  we  cannot  crush  our  will,  and  bring  it  into 
submission  to  the  will  of  God.  This  acknowledgment  of 
sin  is  followed  by  a  supplication  for  pardon,  a  supplication 
grounded,  not  on  any  merit  or  claim  of  ours,  but  on  God's 
free  mercy,  promised  to  those  who  confess  their  sins  and  are 
truly  penitent,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  whole  is 
then  wound  up  by  an  entreaty,  that,  as  we  have  no  strength 
of  ourselves  to  help  ourselves,  God  will  vouchsafe  for  the 
sake  of  Jesus  Christ  to  give  us  his  Holy  Spirit,  so  that  we 
may  be  enabled  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  to 
the  glory  of  his  holy  name. 

You  sec  how  much  there  is  in  this  Confession,  and  there- 
fore how  great  need  there  is  that  you  should  come  to  it  with 
all  your  faculties  alive  and  awake.     Perhaps  it  may  help 


CONFESSION.  369 


you  to  understand  it  better,  if  I  translate  it  into  other  words, 
and  try  to  bring  out  its  meaning  a  little  more  fully.  The 
substance  of  it  might  be  expressed  pretty  nearly  in  the 
following  manner  : 

O  God  our  heavenly  Father,  we  know  thy  great  power, 
and  dread  it ;  for  we  have  sinned  in  many  ways  against  thee. 
But  we  also  know  thy  great  mercy ;  and  in  this  we  put  our 
only  hope,  this  is  our  only  comfort.  We  are  thy  cnosen 
people,  thy  flock,  even  as  the  Jews  were  of  old :  but  like 
them  we  have  stra^'ed  from  thy  fold,  and  have  forsaken  the 
path  of  thy  commandments.  Thou  hast  given  us  thy  word 
to  guide  us  :  but  we  have  left  it  to  walk  after  our  own  fancies, 
and  to  work  out  our  own  conceits.  Some  of  us  have  given 
up  our  souls  to  the  cares  of  this  world :  some  of  us  have 
been  led  aside  and  ensnared  by  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  : 
some  of  us  have  run  headlong  after  shameful  and  forbidden 
pleasures.  Our  hearts  sink  within  us  at  the  thought  of  our 
disobedience ;  and  our  souls  are  faint  with  the  sickness  of 
sin.  But  thou,  O  Lord,  art  merciful :  spare  us,  we  beseech 
thee,  although  we  deserve  nothing  but  punishment.  As  thou 
didst  promise  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah  (xxx.  17),  that  thou 
wouldst  restore  health  to  thy  servant  Jacob,  and  wouldst 
heal  him  of  his  wounds,  so  restore  our  souls  to  health,  and 
heal  them  of  their  deadly  wounds,  and  take  us  back  into  thy 
favour.  Thou  hast  promised  forgiveness  through  thy  dear 
Son  to  all  who  turn  to  thee  with  tnie  repentance.  For  his 
sake,  and  for  thy  word's  sake,  forgive  us,  who  now  desire  to 
come  back  to  thee.  Increase  and  perfect  our  repentance  ; 
and  grant  us  thy  grace,  that  we  may  leave  all  our  evil  ways, 
and  may  keep  henceforth  in  the  right  path,  walking  in  holi- 
ness and  piety  before  thee,  in  justice  and  charity  toward  our 
neighbour,  and  in  temperance  and  purity  within  ourselves, 
that  so  we  may  please  thee  both  in  will  and  deed  unto  the 
end  of  our  lives. 

B   B 


370  THE    ALTON    SERMON?. 

Thus  much  at  least  is  contained  in  the  Confession,  when 
taken  in  its  full  meaning.  After  a  confession  of  this  sort, 
how  consoling  and  comfortable  ought  the  Absolution  to  be 
which  the  priest,  as  God's  messenger,  announces  and  pro- 
claims to  you  !  It  is  indeed  the  most  delightful  part  of  a 
minister's  duty,  to  declare  the  glad  tidings  of  forgiveness  to 
those  who  are  sorrowing  for  sin,  and,  as  the  Scripture 
expresses  it,  to  bind  up  the  wounds  of  the  broken-hearted. 
Our  office  at  times  is  painful :  for  at  times  we  have  to  find 
fault  and  reprove.  But  in  the  Absolution  we  have  a  dii- 
ferent  and  a  joyful  task.  We  are  to  declare  and  make  known 
to  all  Christians,  that  their  sins  are  loosed,  and  that  God 
has  pardoned  them,  provided  they  are  truly  penitent ;  that 
is,  provided  they  forsake  their  sins,  and  keep  God's  holy 
commandments,  and  do  that  which  is  lawful  and  right.  Else 
the  pardon  proclaimed  by  the  minister  is  of  no  effect.  The 
impenitent  have  no  share  in  it.  They  continue  unforgiven, 
and  are  still  under  God's  wrath. 

After  the  congregation  and  the  minister  have  been  recon- 
ciled to  God  by  the  Confession,  and  after  the  glad  tidings 
of  forgiveness  have  been  proclaimed,  the  minister  and  the 
people  join  in  offering  up  the  Lord's  prayer.  Thus  we  are 
brought  to  the  end  of  the  first  of  the  three  parts,  into  which 
the  Morning  Service  may  be  divided.  Of  that  most  perfect 
form  of  words,  which  in  a  few  short  petitions  sums  up  what- 
ever man  can  want,  or  ought  to  wish  for,  I  shall  not  speak 
at  present.  I  must  keep  it  for  a  course  of  sermons  by 
itself. 


XXXI. 

LITURGY :  Second  Part. 
PSALMS    AND    LESSONS. 

Psalm  cl.  6. 
Let  every  thing  that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord. 

'~PHE  first  part  of  the  Morning  Service,  we  have  seen,  is 
■^  a  service  of  contrition  and  humiHation,  in  which  we 
humble  ourselves  before  God,  confessing  our  many  sins 
against  him,  entreating  his  pardon  for  the  past,  and  be- 
seeching him  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  to  help  us  to  live 
better  lives  in  future.  Its  keynote,  as  I  have  already  said, 
is  penitence.  In  the  sentences  at  the  beginning  we  are 
required  to  repent.  In  the  Exhortation  you  are  told  to 
confess  your  sins  with  a  humble,  penitent  heart.  In  the 
Confession  we  pray  God  to  spare  those  who  confess,  and  to 
restore  them  that  are  penitent.  Lastly,  in  the  Absolution 
forgiveness  of  sins  is  declared  to  all  christian  people  who 
are  truly  penitent.  The  second  part  of  the  Morning  Service 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Psalms  and  Lessons,  is  a  service  of 
praise  and  instruction.  Its  purpose  is  to  teach  the  people 
what  they  should  believe  and  do,  and  to  enable  them  to 
join  the  minister  in  praising  God  for  all  his  mercies.  Its 
keynote  is  praise.      It  begins  with  a  short  prayer  on  the 


372  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


part  of  the  minister,  that  God  will  open  our  lips,  so  that 
we  may  be  able  to  praise  him :  and  this  is  followed  by  a 
promise  on  the  part  of  the  people,  that  if  their  lips  are  thus 
opened,  they  will  shew  forth  his  praise.  When  we  confess 
our  sins,  we  are  to  fall  on  our  knees  as  though  we  were 
sinking  under  the  burden  of  them  :  but  now  the  nobleness 
of  the  subject  lifts  us  up,  and  we  rise  to  give  glory  to  the 
eternal  Trinity,  through  all  time,  past,  present,  and  to  come. 
Hereupon  the  minister  exhorts  the  people  to  praise  the 
Lord,  and  the  people  reply,  "  The  Lord's  name  be  praised." 
And  praised  the  Lord  is  through  this  whole  part  of  the 
service,  in  many  various  ways,  by  our  praising  him,  by  our 
giving  thanks  to  him,  by  our  glorifying  him,  by  our  telling 
out  his  works  with  gladness,  by  our  setting  forth  the  won- 
ders of  his  providence,  and  the  still  greater  wonders  of  his 
grace. 

In  the  first  place  the  minister  and  the  people  stir  up  one 
another,  as  the  Jews  did  of  old,  by  the  95th  Psalm,  to  lift 
up  their  voices  in  the  praise  of  the  Lord,  and  to  shew  forth 
their  joy  "  in  the  strength  of  their  salvation."  And  who  is 
that  ?  Who  can  it  be  but  Christ  ?  Christ  is  our  Saviour 
and  our  strength  :  through  him  we  are  forgiven  and  made 
whole.  Therefore,  as  the  lame  man,  spoken  of  in  the  Acts, 
who  had  been  lying  asking  alms  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  of 
the  Temple,  when  his  ancle-bones  had  received  strength 
through  the  name  of  Jesus,  stood  up  and  praised  God,  so  do 
we,  when  we  are  raised  up  from  our  knees,  on  which  we  have 
been  craving  the  alms  of  God's  forgiveness,  stand  and  praise 
Jesus,  the  strength  of  our  salvation,  in  acknowledgment  that 
through  him  alone  can  we  resist  the  temptations  of  the  devil 
in  this  world,  or  his  malicious  accusations  at  the  last  day. 
We  are  to  praise  him,  and  to  come  before  his  presence  with 
thanksgiving.  The  presence  of  Jehovah  among  the  Jews 
dwelt  between   the  cherubim  in  the  Temple.     The  same 


PSALMS   AND    LESSONS. 


373 


presence,  though  invisible,  still  dwells  in  Christ's  church. 
For  SO  our  Lord  expressly  promised  (Matt,  xviii.  20) : 
"  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  Does  any  one  wish  to 
be  in  the  presence  of  Christ?  Let  him  come  to  church. 
Only  when  we  are  here,  let  us  be  duly  grateful  to  God  for 
his  great  loving-kindness  in  deigning  to  dwell  among  us, 
and  to  hearken  to  cur  praises  and  prayers.  "  Let  us  come 
before  his  presence  with  thanksgiving,  and  shew  ourselves 
glad  in  him  with  psalms.  For  the  Lord  is  a  great  God,  and 
a  great  King  above  all  gods.  In  his  hands  are  all  the 
corners  of  the  earth ;  and  the  strength  of  the  hills  is  his 
also.  The  sea  is  his,  and  he  made  it ;  and  his  hands  pre- 
pared the  dry  land."  Here  is  the  reason  for  our  thanks- 
giving and  rejoicing.  Our  God  is  not  Hke  the  idol  gods  of 
the  heathens,  who  have  eyes,  yet  see  not,  and  ears,  yet  hear 
not,  and  in  whose  nostrils  there  is  no  breath.  These  are  all 
false  gods,  gods  of  a  man's  making :  but  our  Lord  is  the 
true  God,  the  great  God,  the  only  God,  the  God  who  made 
heaven  and  earth  and  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  in  heaven,  and 
all  that  is  in  the  earth,  and  all  that  is  in  the  sea  :  and  all 
these  things  are  still  in  his  hand  :  as  his  breath  in  the 
beginning  called  them  into  being,  so  but  for  his  upholding 
word  they  crumble  away  into  nothingness. 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  praise  God,  and  to  rejoice  in 
him  ;  we  must  also  worship  and  fall  down  and  kneel  before 
him.  For  "  he  is  the  Lord  our  God  :  and  we  are  the 
people  of  his  pasture,  and  the  sheep  of  his  hand."  He  is 
our  God,  not  merely  as  he  is  the  God  of  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  but  in  a  more  especial  manner  :  for  he  has  graciously 
entered  into  a  covenant  with  us,  that  he  should  be  our  God, 
and  we  should  be  his  people.  Nor  are  we  his  people  only, 
but  his  sheep ;  a  beautiful  image  to  shew  how  he  watches 
over  us  and  tends  us.     We  are  Christ's  flock :  he  has  pur- 


374  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


chased  us  with  his  blood ;  he  feeds  us  with  his  word ;  he 
refreshes  us  with  his  Holy  Spirit  in  the  fair  and  pleasant 
pastures  of  godliness.  Thus  the  prophet  Isaiah  foretold  of 
him  (xl.  it),  "  that  he  should  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd, 
and  should  gather  the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  should  carry 
them  in  his  bosom,  and  should  gently  lead  those  that  were 
with  young."  This  leading  and  gathering  with  his  arm, 
this  carrying  the  young  in  his  bosom,  this  gentle  leading  of 
the  feeble,  this  constant  succour  and  support  which  our 
Lord  affords  to  his  people,  to  each  according  to  his  need, 
is  expressed  in  the  declaration  that  we  are  the  sheep  of  his 
hand. 

Hitherto  all  in  this  Psalm  has  been  gladness  and  thankful 
rejoicing.  But  God  knows  how  apt  unmixed  joy  is  to  get 
into  men's  heads  :  he  knows  how  ready  we  all  are  to  feed 
ourselves  with  hopes,  and  to  take  the  promises  of  the  Bible 
to  ourselves,  without  considering  whether  they  belong  to  us. 
Yet  we  have  no  share  in  them,  so  long  as  we  continue  in 
sin.  Therefore,  at  the  end  of  the  Psalm,  to  sober  us  a  little, 
and  call  us  back  to  safe  thoughts,  we  have  a  few  most 
wholesome  words  of  caution:  "To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his 
\  oice,  harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the  provocation,  and  as 
in  the  day  of  temptation  in  the  wilderness;  when  your 
fathers  tempted  me,  proved  me,  and  saw  my  works."  That 
is  to  say,  when  God  calls  you,  when  he  commands  you  to 
do  anything,  or  to  leave  anything  undone,  do  not  harden 
your  hearts  against  his  bidding,  as  the  Jews  did  in  the  days 
of  Moses,  time  after  time  in  the  wilderness,  murmuring  at 
every  hardship  they  had  to  bear,  shewing  their  want  of  faith 
in  God,  notwithstanding  all  the  wonderful  mercies  and 
deliverances  they  had  received,  and  forsaking  the  true  God, 
who  had  poured  forth  so  many  blessings  upon  them,  to  go 
astray  after  the  false  and  bloodthirsty  and  lustful  gods  of 
the  nations.    For  a  long  time  God  bore  with  them.    "  Forty 


PSALMS   AND    LESSONS.  375 

years  long  was  he  grieved  with  that  generation,  and  said,  It 
is  a  people  that  do  err  in  their  hearts ;  for  they  have  not 
known  my  ways."  But  at  last  the  day  of  grace  closed,  and 
the  day  of  punishment  began :  at  last  God  sware  in  his 
wrath  that  they  should  not  enter  into  his  rest.  This  was 
when  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran, 
at  Kadesh:  and  the  story,  as  we  find  it  in  the  14th  chapter 
of  the  Book  of  Numbers,  is  so  instructive,  that,  as  that 
chapter  is  not  read  among  the  Sunday  lessons,  I  shall  tell  it 
you  at  some  length. 

After  the  law  had  been  given  on  Mount  Sinai,  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  removed  from  thence,  and  journeyed  on 
toward  the  land  which  God  had  promised  them.  When 
they  were  near  the  edge  of  the  wilderness,  on  the  borders  of 
the  promised  land,  Moses  sent  twelve  men  to  spy  out  the 
land,  and  to  bring  back  word  what  they  saw  there.  So  these 
men  went  up  and  searched  the  land ;  and  after  being  absent 
forty  days  they  came  back,  and  told  the  children  of  Israel, 
that  the  land  was  very  rich,  and  abounded  with  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  and  flowed,  as  it  were,  with  milk  and  honey  ;  but 
that  the  inhabitants  were  strong  and  warlike,  that  some  of 
them  were  giants,  and  that  they  dwelt  in  great  cities  with 
high  walls  to  them,  which  there  was  no  hope  of  scaling  or 
beating  down.  One  might  have  thought  that  reports  of  this 
kind  should  not  have  frightened  a  people  who  had  the  Lord 
for  their  God.  They  had  witnessed  his  wonders  in  Egypt  : 
they  had  been  brought  out  safe  from  Pharaoh  and  all  his 
host :  they  had  passed  through  the  Red  Sea  as  on  dry  land  : 
they  had  seen  Moses  call  for  water  from  the  hard  rock : 
they  had  been  fed  from  heaven  with  manna  and  quails : 
they  had  heard  the  voice  of  God  speaking  out  of  the  midst 
of  the  fire  when  he  gave  the  ten  commandments,  and  had 
lived.  Surely  after  so  many  proofs  of  God's  power  and 
goodness,  the  Israelites  might  have  trusted  that  he,  who  had 


376  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

already  done  such  great  things  for  them,  would  not  desert 
them  at  the  last ;  surely  they  might  have  gone  on  boldly  at 
the  bidding  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  But  no :  their  hearts 
sank  within  them  at  these  tidings  :  they  said,  "  Would  God 
we  had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt !  or  would  God  we  had 
died  in  this  wilderness  !  Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  brought 
us  to  this  land,  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our  wives  and 
children  should  be  a  prey  ?  Were  it  not  better  for  us  to 
return  into  Egypt  ?  And  they  said  one  to  another,  Let  us 
choose  a  captain,  and  let  us  return  into  Egypt !"  It  was  in 
vain  that  those  lion-hearted  men,  Joshua  and  Caleb,  who 
had  been  among  the  twelve  spiers  of  the  land,  said  to  the 
children  of  Israel :  "  The  land  is  an  exceeding  good  land. 
If  the  Lord  delight  in  us,  then  will  he  bring  us  into  this  land, 
and  give  it  us.  Only  rebel  not  against  the  Lord,  nor  fear  the 
people  of  the  land  :  for  they  are  bread  for  us  :  their  defence 
is  departed  from  them,  and  the  Lord  is  with  us  :  fear  them 
not."  Instead  of  listening  to  these  brave  and  good  men, 
the  Israelites  waxed  furious  at  being  thus  crossed  and 
opposed.  From  stubbornness  and  rebellion  they  went  on 
to  brutal  violence,  and,  as  cowards  usually  do,  to  cruelty : 
for  cowardice  is  a  very  cruel  thing;  nine  times  in  ten,  as 
any  soldier  who  has  been  in  the  wars  will  tell  you,  cowardice 
and  cruelty  go  together :  and  the  most  cowardly  men  are 
generally  the  cruellest.  So  was  it  with  those  wicked  cowardly 
Israelites.  Though  they  were  afraid  of  going  forth  to  meet 
their  enemies  face  to  face  in  battle,  they  were  not  afraid  of 
shedding  blood  :  they  were  not  afraid  of  committing  murder, 
when  they  fancied  that  the  strength  of  numbers  was  on  their 
side.  Because  Joshua  and  Caleb  joined  with  Moses  and 
Aaron  in  exhorting  them  to  obey  God,  they  all  cried  out, 
"  Stone  them  ;"  and  doubtless  they  were  preparing  to  do 
so.  Now  learn  a  lesson  from  these  Israelites.  Often  as 
they  had  disobeyed  God,  and  murmured  against  him,  yet 


PSALMS    AND    LESSONS. 


377 


up  to  that  time  the  door  of  mercy  was  still  open  to  them. 
If  they  had  not  hardened  their  hearts,  and  shut  their  ears 
against  the  words  of  Caleb  and  Joshua, — if  they  had  had 
the  wisdom  to  see  and  believe  that  the  Lord,  who  had 
shewn  himself  almighty  against  the  Egyptians,  must  be 
«'  equally  almighty  against  the  Canaanites, — if  in  the  strength 
of  this  wisdom  they  had  obeyed  the  will  of  God,  and  gone 
up  to  battle  boldly, — all  would  have  been  well  with  them  : 
they  would  have  been  forgiven ;  the  Lord  of  Hosts  would 
have  been  with  them ;  their  arms  would  have  prospered, 
and  their  enemies  would  have  been  overthrown.  But  they 
did  close  their  ears  :  they  did  harden  their  hearts ;  they 
did  persist  in  disobeying  God,  and  were  about  to  slay  his 
servants.  Mark  the  consequences.  The  door  of  mercy  was 
closed  upon  them  :  the  cup  of  wrath  was  filled  to  overflow- 
ing :  they  were  condemned  to  perish  in  the  wilderness. 
"  The  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  tabernacle  before 
all  the  children  of  Israel.  And  the  Lord  said  :  Because  all 
these  men,  who  have  seen  my  glory,  and  my  miracles  in 
Egypt  and  in  the  wilderness,  have  tempted  me  now  these 
ten  times,  and  have  not  hearkened  to  my  voice,  surely  they 
shall  not  see  the  land  which  I  promised  to  their  fathers ; 
none  of  them  that  provoked  me  shall  see  it.  Their  carcases 
shall  fall  in  the  wilderness  :  there  they  shall  be  consumed ; 
and  there  they  shall  die  !"  And  so  it  came  to  pass.  There 
they  did  all  die,  all  save  Caleb  and  Joshua.  Out  of  that 
vast  multitude  of  men  and  women,  who  came  with  Moses 
out  of  Egypt,  Joshua  and  Caleb  alone  lived  to  see  the 
promised  land  :  because  they  alone  had  trusted  heartily  in 
the  Lord,  and  had  followed  him,  and  obeyed  him.  This, 
my  brethren,  is  the  story  of  God's  fearful  judgment  against 
the  stiffnecked  and  hardened  Jews,  which  we  are  reminded 
of  every  Sunday  morning  in  the  95th  Psalm,  lest  we  too 
should  harden  our  hearts  against  God's  promises  and  warn- 


378  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


ings  as  they  did,  and  should  be  afraid  of  fighting  against 
God's  enemies,  and  our  enemies,  sin,  and  the  devil,  and  so, 
being  guilty  of  the  same  offence,  should  be  visited  in  the 
end  with  the  same  punishment.  For  we  too  have  a  promised 
land  :  we  too  have  a  place  of  rest  prepared  for  us,  beyond 
the  labours  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness  of  this  world,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  grave,  in  heaven.  That  is  our  pro- 
mised land :  let  us  be  careful  not  to  miss  it  by  hardness  of 
heart  and  unbelief.  Let  us  beware  of  provoking  God  to 
swear  that  we  shall  not  enter  into  his  eternal  rest. 

After  the  95th  Psalm  come  the  Psalms  for  the  day. 
Sunday  after  Sunday  we  repeat  some  portion  of  those  beau- 
tiful Psalms,  which  are  so  full  of  piety,  so  full  of  trust  in 
God  and  in  his  goodness,  so  full  of  promises  to  the  poor 
and  needy.  It  was  only  last  Sunday  that  my  heart  leapt 
within  me,  as  we  were  reading  the  34th  Psalm  together,  to 
think  how  blessed  are  the  people  in  this  country  to  have 
such  words  of  comfort  read  to  them  in  their  own  tongue. 
In  other  books  I  have  read  of  God's  caring  for  the  great,  or 
for  the  just :  but  the  Bible,  and  books  taken  from  the  Bible, 
alone  speak  of  God  as  caring  for  the  poor.  This  is  a  mark 
which  belongs  solely  to  our  religion,  and  which  separates  it 
from  all  false  ones.  Christ  came  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  poor.  God  is  the  God,  not  of  the  rich  only,  but  still 
more,  if  possible,  of  the  poor.  In  a  word,  the  Bible  is  the 
poor  man's  book ;  and  it  especially  behoves  every  poor  man 
to  take  care  that  his  children  learn  to  read  it.  But  if  there 
be  one  part  of  the  Bible  more  plentifully  crowded  with  pro- 
mises to  the  godly  poor  than  another,  it  is  the  Book  of 
Psalms.  "  The  poor  crieth,  and  the  Lord  heareth  him,  and 
saveth  him  out  of  all  his  troubles.  The  angel  of  the  Lord 
tarricth  round  about  them  that  fear  him,  and  delivereth 
them.  O  taste  and  see  how  gracious  the  Lord  is  !  Blessed 
is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  him.     O  fear  the  Lord,  ye  that 


PSALMS    AND    LESSONS.  379 


are  his  saints  :  for  they  that  fear  him  lack  nothing.  The 
lions  do  lack,  and  suffer  hunger :  but  they  who  seek  the 
Lord  shall  want  no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good."  These 
beautiful  verses, — and  there  are  several  more  like  them, — 
are  taken  out  of  that  single  34th  Psalm.  Nor  are  the 
Psalms  read  straight  through  to  you  by  the  minister;  you 
yourselves  are  called  on  to  join  in  them,  and  to  read  them 
with  him ;  you  have  the  high  privilege  assigned  to  you  of 
praising  God  in  his  holy  place,  by  uttering  the  sweet  words 
of  David  with  your  own  lips. 

The  next  part  of  the  service  is  the  Lessons,  in  the  course 
of  which  the  most  important  chapters  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  nearly  half  of  the  New  Testament,  are  read  to  you 
every  year.  These  the  minister  is  particularly  ordered  to 
read  distinctly  with  an  audible  voice,  standing,  and  turning 
so  as  he  may  best  be  heard  by  all  who  are  present.  From 
this  you  may  see  how  anxious  our  Church  is,  that  you 
should  hear  the  word  of  God.  For  myself,  there  is  no  part 
of  my  office  in  church  that  I  feel  more  delight  in,  or  that  I 
take  greater  pains  to  perform,  as  well  as  I  can,  than  this  of 
reading  the  word  of  God  to  you  in  such  a  way  that  you  may 
understand  it.  The  only  thing  I  ask  in  return  is,  that,  so 
long  as  I  take  pains  to  read,  you  will  also  take  pains  to 
listen.  And  God  grant  that  both  my  reading  and  your 
listening  may  work  together,  through  the  blessing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  build  up  your  heart  and  mine  in  the 
knowledge  of  God's  law,  in  dutifulness  to  his  will,  and 
in  faith  and  love  toward  the  Father  and  the  Son,  strong 
enough  to  preserve  us  against  all  the  assaults  of  the  Evil 
One! 

Between  the  two  Lessons  comes  the  Te  Deum,  so  called 
because  the  Latin  hymn,  from  which  it  is  translated,  begins 
with  those  two  words.  Of  this  most  noble  christian  song 
of  praise  I  hardly  dare  speak ;  for  I  feel  how  unable  I  am 


380  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


to  set  forth  its  excellences  worthily.  It  opens  with  a  grand 
chorus,  in  which  heaven  and  earth,  the  apostles,  the  pro- 
phets, the  martyrs,  the  holy  Church  throughout  the  world 
join  in  worshipping  God,  in  glorifying,  and  in  praising  him. 
This  is  to  shew  us  that  our  God  is  not  the  God  of  this  earth 
merely,  and  of  those  who  are  now  living  upon  it,  but  that 
he  is  the  God  whom  it  has  been  the  joy  of  the  faithful  in  all 
former  ages  to  acknowledge  and  adore, — that  he  is  the  God 
of  the  heavens,  yea  of  the  heaven  of  heavens,  just  as  much 
as  of  the  earth,— that  he  is  the  God  to  whom  the  cherubim 
and  seraphim,  that  is,  all  the  various  orders  of  angels,  are 
for  ever  lifting  up  their  songs  and  praises, — that  he  is  the 
holy,  holy,  holy  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth.  But  what,  you  may 
ask,  is  the  meaning  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  ?  These  words 
amount  to  just  the  same  thing  with  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  as 
you  may  see  by  turning  to  the  9th  chapter  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  where  the  Apostle  tells  us  that 
"  Esaias  said,  Except  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  had  left  us  a 
seed,  we  had  been  as  Sodoma,  and  been  made  like  to 
Gomorrah."  For  these  words  which  are  taken  from  the  ist 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  stand  in  our  translation  as  follows  :  "  Ex- 
cept the  Lord  of  Hosts  had  left  us  a  very  small  remnant,  we 
should  have  been  as  Sodom,  and  we  should  have  been 
like  to  Gomorrah."  The  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth  then  is 
the  Lord  God  of  Hosts.  And  who  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ? 
Who  is  this  God,  whom  all  created  things  bow  down  to, 
and  all  the  blessed  spirits  worship  and  obey  ?  The  next 
verses  tell  us  :  "  He  is  the  Father  of  an  infinite  majesty  :  " 
He  is  "  his  honourable,  true,  and  only  Son  :  "  He  is  "  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter."  He  is  the  one  eternal  God, 
who  is  revealed  to  us  in  holy  Scripture  under  the  mystery 
of  three  persons,  as  the  Father  that  made  us,  the  Son  that 
has  redeemed  us,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  that  sanctifies  us,  if  we 
are  inwardly,  as  we  are  outwardly,  the  chosen  people  of  God. 


PSALMS    AND    LESSONS.  38 1 

After  this  tribute  of  praise  and  worship  to  the  ever- 
blessed  Trinity,  the  Te  Deum  addresses  itself  more  es- 
pecially to  that  person  of  the  Trinity  to  whom  we,  poor 
sinful  men,  are  so  particularly  bound  for  all  he  has  done 
and  suftered  for  us, — that  is,  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
To  him  it  speaks  as  follows  :  "  Thou  art  the  King  of  Glory, 
O  Christ !  Thou  art  the  everlasting  Son  of  the  Father. 
When  thou  tookest  upon  thee  to  deliver  man,  thou  didst 
not  abhor  the  Virgin's  womb.  When  thou  hadst  overcome 
the  sharpness 'of  death,  thou  didst  open  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  to  all  believers.  Thou  sittest  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  in  the  glory  of  the  Father.  We  believe  that  thou  shalt 
come  to  be  our  Judge."  In  these  words  we  are  reminded 
of  the  chief  proofs  and  instances  of  Christ's  goodness  toward 
us.  We  are  told  that  he  is  the  King  of  Glory,  and  the 
everlasting  Son  of  the  Father, — that  is  to  say,  that  he  was 
begotten  of  the  Father  before  all  worlds.  Before  the  earth 
and  the  sun  and  the  heavens,  before  the  angels  were  created, 
before  anything  that  is  had  life  or  being,  the  everlasting  Son 
dwelt  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  sharing  in  all  his  glory, 
and  full  of  his  wisdom  and  power.  Yet,  though  he  was  so 
high  above  all  beings,  he  humbled  himself,  and,  in  order 
that  he  might  deliver  us,  did  not  abhor  the  Virgin's  womb, 
but  became  man  for  our  sakes,  being  made  in  all  things 
like  as  we  are,  sin  alone  excepted  :  and  having  lived  a  life 
of  pain  on  earth,  after  overcoming  the  sharpness  of  death 
on  the  cross,  he  opened  the  gates  of  heaven  for  his  people, 
and  now  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  continually  making 
intercession  for  them,  as  he  will  do,  until  he  returns  in  great 
glory,  to  judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead.  At  that  awful 
day  we  shall  have  to  appear  before  him  as  our  Judge.  Well 
then  does  it  behove  us  to  consider  how  we  are  to  fit  our- 
selves for  that  day  of  terror.  The  Te  Deum  shows  us  this 
too.     The  thought  of  that  day  should  awaken  us  to  fervent 


382  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

prayer.  No  sooner  has  it  confessed  its  belief  in  Christ  as  our 
Judge,  than  it  changes  its  tone  from  praise  to  prayer,  and 
goes  on  :  "  We  therefore  pray  thee,  help  thy  servants,  whom 
thou  hast  redeemed  with  thy  most  precious  blood."  For 
thine  own  sake  help  us.  Let  not  thy  sufferings  have  been 
endured,  let  not  thy  blood  have  been  shed  in  vain ;  let  not 
all  that  thou  hast  done  for  us  be  of  no  avail  to  us  :  but  as 
thou  hast  done  so  much,  even  to  the  shedding  of  thy 
precious  blood,  for  our  sakes,  assist  us  that  we  may  obtain 
the  benefits  purchased  for  us  by  thy  cross  and  passion,  and 
make  us  to  be  numbered  among  thy  saints  in  glory  everlast- 
ing. To  that  end  continue  to  preserve  thy  people,  continue 
to  bless  thy  heritage.  Be  thou  our  Governor,  our  only 
Master  and  Lord ;  and,  forasmuch  as  without  thee  we  are 
unable  to  stand,  do  thou  lift  up  and  uphold  us.  So  may  we 
magnify  thee  day  by  day,  and  worship  thy  name  ever  world 
without  end.  In  order  however  that  we  may  attain  to  all 
these  blessed  privileges,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  be 
without  sin,  that  we  should  be  pure  and  holy.  But  pure 
and  holy  we  cannot  be  of  ourselves :  we  cannot  keep  our- 
selves without  sin.  Even  for  this  one  day  we  cannot  keep 
ourselves  without  sin.  Do  thou  therefore  vouchsafe  to  keep 
us  this  one  day  without  sin.  Of  thy  free  mercy  keep  us  :  we 
have  no  claim  upon  thee,  but  thy  mercy.  Let  thy  mercy 
lighten  upon  us  :  for  that  is  our  only  trust.  And  inasmuch 
as  we  place  our  whole  and  sole  trust  in  thee,  O  Lord,  let  us 
never  be  confounded. 

After  the  Te  Deum  the  second  Lesson  is  read  to  you. 
While  the  first  Lesson,  as  you  know,  is  always  chosen  out 
of  the  Old  Testament,  the  second  Lesson  is  taken  from  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  morning  from  one  of  the  Gospels,  or 
from  the  Book  of  Acts,  in  the  evening  from  one  of  the 
Epistles.  The  Gospels  tell  us  what  our  Saviour  said  and 
did  and  suffered.     The  Book  of  Acts  sets  forth  how  quickly 


PSALMS    AND    LESSONS.  383 

and  marvellously  the  religion  of  Christ  spread  over  the 
earth,  and  what  mighty  things  God  brought  to  pass  by 
means  of  the  holy  apostles,  within  the  first  thirty  years  after 
our  Lord  ascended  into  heaven.  The  Epistles  are  letters 
written  by  those  apostles,  declaring  the  truths  which  the 
Spirit  of  all  truth  had  revealed  to  them,  the  truths  which 
they  went  about  the  world  preaching,  which  they  sealed 
with  their  blood,  and  on  the  foundation  of  which  they  built 
up  the  Church  of  Christ.  All  these  blessed  words  are  read 
to  you  in  your  own  tongue,  so  that  even  those  w^ho  cannot 
read  themselves,  may  yet  hear  and  understand  the  great 
things  which  Christ  has  done  for  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
and  may  know  him  in  whom  they  are  to  believe. 

Well  indeed,  after  hearing  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
thus  declared  to  us  in  our  own  tongue,  may  we  all  unite  in 
praising  God,  and  giving  thanks  to  him,  and  calling  upon 
all  lands  to  rejoice  in  him,  and  to  serve  him  with  gladness. 
For  now  that  he  is  reconciled  to  mankind  in  Christ,  they 
who  are  thus  reconciled  to  him  may  in  truth  serve  him  with 
gladness,  not  in  the  spirit  of  fear  as  the  heathens  serve  their 
gods,  but  in  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba, 
Father,  and  are  enabled  to  love  God,  as  children  love  their 
father. 

This  second  part  of  the  service  is  then  closed  by  the 
minister  and  people  joining  in  repeating  what  is  called  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  which  contains  a  short  and  simple  summary 
of  the  chief  truths  a  Christian  is  to  believe.  Of  this  Creed 
the  time  will  not  permit  me  to  speak  to  you  now.  Indeed 
there  is  so  much  matter  in  every  line  of  it,  that  it  requires  a 
course  of  sermons  to  itself:  and  such  a  course  I  purpose  to 
preach  to  you  hereafter,  if  God  allows  me  to  remain  among 
you.* 

♦  This  purpose  was  not  fulfilled. 


XXXII. 

LITURGY  :  Third  Part. 
COLLECTS    AND    LITANY. 

Phil.  iv.  6. 

In  everything  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving 
let  your  requests  be  made  known  to  God. 

'T^HE  third  part  of  the  Morning  Service,  as  I  said  before, 
-*-  has  also  a  keynote  of  its  own.  As  the  keynote  of  the 
first  part  is  repentance  and  humiliation,  and  turns  on  the 
necessity  of  a  humble  and  contrite  heart, — while  the  key- 
note of  the  second  part  is  praise, — the  keynote  of  the  third 
part  is  prayer.  It  is  made  up  of  the  Collects  and  the 
Litany:  which  may  both  be  classed  together  under  the 
common  name  of  prayers.  For  prayers  they  both  are,  only 
under  different  forms.  In  the  Collects  the  congregation 
offers  up  its  prayers  collectively^  or  in  a  body,  through  the 
minister,  who  is  the  spokesman  or  mouthpiece  of  the  people, 
and  who,  in  presenting  their  petitions,  collects  or  binds 
together  their  wants  and  wishes,  and  sums  them  up  in  a  few 
words.  The  Litany  on  the  other  hand  is  a  general  suppli- 
cation, in  which  the  congregation  are  to  speak  for  themselves, 
and  bear  their  i)art  by  means  of  the  different  responses. 
'I'he  minister  numbers  up  the  various  blessings  of  every 
kind    which   are   most  desirable    for    Clirist's  people;  and 


COLLECTS    AND    LITANY.  385 

then  the  people  pray  to  God  that  he  will  grant  all  those 
blessings.  But  whatever  differences  there  may  be  between 
the  Collects  and  the  Litany  in  point  of  form,  there  is  no 
difference  in  point  of  substance.  They  are  like  two  roads. 
The  Collects  are  a  path  where  only  one  can  walk  abreast, 
and  where  the  minister  is  to  lead  the  way.  The  Litany  is  a 
public  road  wide  enough  for  all  the  people.  But  both 
roads  lead  to  the  same  place, — to  God's  mercy-seat :  and 
both  are  travelled  along  for  the  same  purpose,  to  seek  and 
bring  down  blessings. 

This  third  part  of  the  Morning  Service  begins,  after  the 
minister  and  people  have  wound  up  the  second  part  by 
calling  down  God's  blessing  on  each  other, — the  third  part, 
I  say,  or  the  service  of  prayer,  begins  with  an  exhortation 
from  the  minister  to  pray.  Hereupon  both  the  minister  and 
the  people  cry  to  Christ  for  mercy,  and  then  join  in  re- 
peating the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  I  hope  by  God's  grace  to 
speak  of  fully  some  other  time.  The  Lord's  Prayer  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  few  short  petitions,  which  are  to  be  repeated  in 
turns  by  the  minister  and  the  people,  and  which  in  a  short 
compass  embrace  the  sum  and  substance  of  most  of  the 
blessings  we  ought  to  pray  for.  These  are  in  the  first  place 
mercy  and  salvation  :  then  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the 
Sovereign.  Then  we  pray  that  the  ministers  of  the  Church 
may  be  clothed  in  righteousness,  to  the  end  that  they  may 
show  forth  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  not  only  with  their  lips, 
but  in  their  lives ;  and  next  that  all  God's  chosen  people 
may  have  joy  in  him  from  whom  alone  all  true  joy  comes. 
Lastly  we  pray  for  peace,  for  purity  of  heart,  and  for  the 
continual  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Happy  indeed  are 
the  people  who  are  in  such  a  case  !  Happy  are  the  people 
to  whom  the  Lord  gives  the  blessings  of  peace, — whose 
sovereign  is  holy  and  prosperous, — whoseministers  are  faithful 
and  godly, — and  v/ho  have  salvation  granted  to  them  in  its 

c  c 


3S6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

truest  sense,  being  saved,  not  from  the  curse  and  condem- 
nation of  the  law  only,  but  from  sin,  from  sinful  habits,  from 
sinful  acts,  from  sinful  passions,  from  sinful  wishes ;  so  that 
they  are  truly  become  God's  chosen  people  and  their  hearts 
are  thoroughly  cleansed,  as  befits  the  temples  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  For  this  is  what  those  who  are  in  Christ  are,  this 
is  what  we  ought  to  be,  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  and 
therefore  do  we  pray  to  God  that  he  will  make  clean  our 
hearts  within  us,  so  that  there  may  be  nothing  unholy,  or 
foul,  or  unseemly,  or  profane  in  them,  nothing  that  may 
provoke  him  to  take  his  Holy  Spirit  from  us. 

After  these  sentences, — which,  like  the  overture  or  be- 
ginning of  a  piece  of  music,  are  meant  to  bring  the  minds 
of  the  congregation  into  tune,  and  to  prepare  them  for  what 
follows, — we  come  to  the  three  Collects,  the  proper  Collect 
for  the  day,  the  Collect  for  peace,  and  the  Collect  for  grace, 
to  be  repeated,  the  Prayerbook  directs,  "all  kneeling." 
This  leads  me  to  say  a  few  words  on  our  good  old  practice 
of  kneeling,  which  in  former  times  prevailed  generally,  but 
which  in  these  days  is  very  much  left  off  in  most  country 
congregations.  Now  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  know, 
as  well  as  you  do,  that  God  can  hear  a  man  when  he  is 
sitting  or  standing,  just  as  well  as  when  he  is  kneeling.  I 
know  too,  that,  owing  to  the  scanty  room  allotted  to  the 
poor  in  many  churches,  and  particularly  from  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  galleries,  kneeling  may  often  be  very  difficult,  or 
nearly  impossible.  All  these  allowances  I  am  willing  to 
make  to  you.  But  then  you  in  your  turn  must  make  some 
allowances  to  me.  You  must  allow,  that,  when  there  are 
two  ways  of  doing  a  thing, — a  better  way  and  a  worse, — a 
wise  man  will  choose  the  better.  You  must  allow,  too,  that 
there  are  many  things  of  no  real  consequence  in  themselves, 
which  become  of  consequence  from  being  the  appointed 
marks  of  respect  and  reverence,  or  of  the  contrary.     For 


COLLECTS    AND    LITANY.  387 

example,  if  the  king  were  to  come  into  this  country,  and 
any  of  you  wanted  to  present  a  petition  to  him,  the  king 
could  receive  the  petition  from  you  just  as  well,  whether 
your  heads  were  covered  or  uncovered.  Yet  not  a  man 
amongst  you  would  think  of  speaking  to  the  king  with  his 
hat  on.  Why  so  ?  For  this  plain  reason  :  because  pulling 
oft'  one's  hat  is  in  this  country  the  way  of  shewing  respect 
and  honour  to  our  superiors.  Now  kneeling  holds  the  same 
place  in  our  duty  to  God,  as  standing  bareheaded  holds  in 
our  duty  to  the  king.  It  is  the  appointed  way  of  shewing 
reverence  to  him  :  it  is  the  natural  posture  of  humility  and 
submission  :  and  the  man  who  does  not  do  it,  unless  he  has 
some  good  excuse,  fails  in  paying  God  the  bodily  worship 
and  outward  reverence  due  to  him.  It  is  true,  the  worship 
of  the  body  is  nothing,  and  worse  than  nothing,  unless  it  be 
accompanied  by  the  worship  of  the  soul.  But  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  worship  of  the  soul  is  imperfect  and  unseemly, 
and  wanting  in  proper  lowliness,  unless  it  be  accompanied 
by  the  worship  of  the  body.  The  two  should  go  together, 
as  they  do  in  the  95th  Psalm ;  where  we  are  exhorted  to 
worship  and  fall  down  and  kneel  before  the  Lord  our 
Maker.  Thus  we  read  of  holy  Daniel,  just  before  he  was 
thrown  into  the  den  of  lions,  that  he  kneeled  on  his  knees, 
and  prayed.  Again  we  read  of  St.  Paul,  that,  when  he  had 
taken  leave  of  the  elders  at  Eph^sus  in  his  farewell  sermon 
at  Miletus,  he  kneeled  down  and  prayed  with  them  all.  But 
what  need  is  there  to  set  before  you  such  examples  as  these, 
when  St.  Luke  tells  us  of  our  Saviour  himself,  that  he 
kneeled  down  and  prayed  ?  Shall  the  Son  of  God  himself 
kneel  when  he  prays  ?  and  shall  we  not  kneel  ?  Therefore 
I  would  advise  the  young  and  healthy, — of  the  old  and 
infirm  I  say  nothing ;  for  I  wish  not  to  make  the  service  oi 
God,  which  ought  to  be  a  comfort  and  delight,  a  burthen  to 
any, — but  the  young  and  active  and  healthy  I  would  advise 


3S8  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


to  accustom  themselves  to  kneel  during  the  prayers,  just  as 
they  stand  during  the  Psalms,  and  sit  during  the  Lessons. 
So  behaving,  tliey  will  do  what  is  seemly  and  right. 

But  to  return  to  the  Collects  :  the  first  Collect,  you  know, 
changes  every  Sunday  :  so  that,  with  those  for  Christmas  day 
and  Ash  Wednesday,  and  the  three  for  Good  Friday,  you 
have  nearly  sixty  difterent  Collects  read  to  you  in  the  course 
of  the  year.  One  or  two  of  them  here  and  there  may  seem 
somewhat  diflicult,  owing  to  the  changes  that  have  taken 
jilace  in  the  meaning  of  words  since  they  were  written  :  but 
for  the  most  part  they  are  very  easy  and  short,  much  to  the 
l)urpose,  and  exceedingly  beautiful :  and  I  believe  it  would 
be  hard  to  find  the  same  number  of  holy  thoughts  and  fitting 
petitions  anywhere  else  expressed  in  so  few  words. 

The  second  Collect,  that  for  Peace,  is  repeated  every 
Sunday :  so  I  shall  go  through  it  sentence  by  sentence,  not 
merely  to  teach  you  its  full  meaning,  but  also  to  shew  you 
how  much  more  there  is  in  the  prayers  than  we  have  any 
notion  of,  till  we  come  to  look  at  them  closely.  The  greatest 
part  of  this  prayer  is  easy  enough.  Suppose  it  stood  thus  : 
"  O  God,  who  art  the  author  of  peace,  and  lover  of  concord, 
defend  us,  thy.  humble  servants,  in  all  assaults  of  our 
enemies,  that  we,  surely  trusting  in  thy  defence,  may  not 
fear  the  power  of  any  adversaries,  through  the  might  of  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord."  This,  we  should  all  see  at  once,  would 
be  a  petition  to  God  to  give  us  the  great  blessing  of  outward 
peace,  and  to  defend  us  from  all  the  adversaries  of  peace, 
that  is,  from  all  who  set  their  faces  against  peace,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad.  This  too  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  things 
that  we  ask  of  God  in  this  prayer.  But  this  cannot  be  all : 
or  what  would  be  the  meaning  of  the  words  which  I  left 
out  in  reading  it  over  just  now  ? — "  in  knowledge  of  whom 
standeth  our  eternal  life,  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom." 
These  words,  it  is  plain,  have  nothing  to  do  with  outward 


COLLECTS    AND    LITANY.  389 

peace  :  so  they  warn  us  to  look  deeper  into  the  Collect,  and 
to  understand  it  as  a  prayer,  not  only  for  outward  peace  from 
worldly  enemies,  but  also  for  that  outward  peace  which  leads 
to  eternal  life.  Having  thus  got  the  key  to  the  meaning  of 
this  Collect,  let  us  try  to  unlock  it,  and  to  see  what  treasures 
it  contains.  It  begins,  "  O  God,  who  art  the  author  of 
peace!"  And  so  he  is.  God  is  the  author  of  peace  as 
opposed  to  war.  But  still  more  is  he  the  author  of  peace  of 
mind,  as  opposed  to  those  inward  fightings  and  distractions, 
which  disturb  and  rend  the  unregenerate  heart,  making  it 
like  a  den  of  serpents  and  wild  beasts,  full  of  everything  that 
is  venomous  and  fierce  and  mischievous.  All  these  things 
God  by  his  grace  casts  out  of  the  heart,  just  as  Jesus  Christ, 
when  he  was  on  earth,  used  to  cast  the  devils  out  of  the  men 
who  were  possessed  by  them  :  and  by  so  doing  he  gives  us 
peace.  But  God  is  not  only  the  author  of  peace  :  he  is  also 
the  lover  of  concord.  And  what  is  that  ?  Concord  is  a  very 
expressive  word,  signifying  the  meeting  and  joining  of  hearts. 
Where  heart  goes  along  with  heart,  and  each  man's  heart  is 
with  his  fellow,  and  there  is  no  bickering,  or  envying,  or 
grudging,  or  division  of  any  sort,  but  all  the  people  is  of  one 
heart  and  one  mind, — there,  and  there  alone,  is  true  concord. 
This  concord  God  is  said  to  love ;  because  it  betokens  happi- 
ness among  his  creatures,  and  brings  them  more  and  more 
to  the  knowledge  of  him,  "  whom  to  know  is  eternal  life." 
For  the  only  road  to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  God  is  through 
faith  in  Christ  and  brotherly  love.  Other  road  beside  this 
there  is  none  to  that  perfect  and  practical  knowledge,  which 
alone  can  lead  to  life  eternal.  But  what  are  the  signs  of  this 
concord  ?  One  sign,  and  one  beginning  of  it,  is  peace  of 
heart  on  earth :  and  this  cannot  be  enjoyed,  until  the  Spirit 
of  God  has  wrought  in  us  a  hearty  trust  in  God's  mercy,  and 
has  broken  the  chains  in  which  sin  held  us,  and  given  us  a 
new  nature,  a  nature  of  humility,  in  which  men  rejoice  to 


39 O  THE    ALTON   SERMONS. 

serve  Christ,  the  Ransomer  and  Saviour  of  the  world.  This 
service  may  indeed  be  said  to  be  perfect  freedom :  for  the 
servants  of  God  are  free.  They  are  not  slaves,  nor  hirelings  : 
they  work  not  out  of  fear,  from  compulsion,  nor  for  wages. 
But  they  are  sons,  and  work  like  sons,  regularly  and  steadily, 
on  their  heavenly  Father's  farm,  being  up  and  about  his 
business  early  and  late,  and  doing,  remember,  far  more  work 
tlian  any  slave  would  do,  because  their  hearts  are  in  their 
work.  These  are  the  servants  whom  Christ  loves,  and  whom 
he  will  invite  to  sit  at  meat  with  him,  when  he  comes  to  his 
harvest-home.  But  it  is  not  enough  that  our  eternal  Hfe 
standeth  in  the  knowledge  of  God ;  it  is  not  enough  that  his 
service  is  perfect  freedom :  so  frail  is  our  nature  that  these 
thoughts  have  not  enough  power  to  bring  us  to  know  God 
and  to  serve  him.  In  spite  of  all  this  we  turn  away  from 
him,  and  walk  after  the  lusts  of  the  flesh.  Therefore,  know- 
ing the  cunning,  the  activity,  the  malice,  of  the  spiritual  foes 
who  are  banded  against  our  peace,  we  pray  for  defence  to 
the  author  of  peace,  that  our  trust  may  be  in  the  defence 
which  he  vouchsafes  to  his  people,  instead  of  confiding,  as 
too  many  do,  in  our  own  wisdom,  or  in  our  own  valour,  or 
in  our  own  strength.  The  Christian  knows  that,  apart  from 
God's  assistance,  his  own  strength  is  the  veriest  weakness. 
But  he  knows  likewise  how  it  is  in  man's  weakness  that  God 
is  pleased  to  shew  forth  his  strength.  Therefore  he  takes 
good  heart,  and  is  free  from  all  fear  of  his  adversaries,  know- 
ing that  he  who  is  on  our  side  is  greater  than  they  who  are 
against  us. 

Hence  you  may  see  that,  if  we  were  to  unroll  the  meaning 
which  is  wrapt  up  in  this  little  prayer,  and  to  spread  it  out 
at  length,  it  would  run  pretty  much  as  follows. 

O  God,  who  givest  peace  to  man,  and  makest  thy  people 
tf)  be  of  one  mind,  send  peace  and  quiet  to  this  nation, 
l.nd    all    the    jarrings    and    fightings,    and    quarrels,    and 


COLLECTS    AND   LITANY. 


391 


divisions,  which  shake  the  heart  of  the  country  to 
pieces.  O  Lord,  thou  hast  fenced  us  about,  and  guarded 
us  more  than  any  other  people  from  the  assaults  of 
all  our  enemies  abroad :  guard  us  now,  we  beseech  thee, 
from  ourselves, — from  our  angry  passions,  from  our  unruly 
appetites,  from  covetousness,  which  is  idolatry  before 
thee,  and  which,  as  thy  apostle,  St.  James,  teaches  us, 
engenders  hatred  and  bloodshed  among  men.  Make  the 
rich  among  us  compassionate  and  bountiful,  according  to 
the  abundance  of  their  means  :  make  the  poor  obedient 
and  contented.  But  above  all  things  give  us  thy  peace, 
that  peace  which  the  world  cannot  give,  the  peace  which 
springs  from  the  knowledge  that  we  are  reconciled  to  thee 
through  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  he  by  his  death  and 
resurrection  has  opened  the  gates  of  life  to  us.  Fill  us  with 
thankful  love  toward  thee  for  these  thy  mercies,  that  we  may 
feel  the  glorious  liberty  of  thy  service,  and  may  do  thy  will 
during  our  stay  on  earth,  like  dutiful  children,  heartily  and 
diligently.  But  thy  service,  O  Lord,  is  a  warfare  :  and  we, 
thy  servants,  are  living  here  on  earth,  as  in  some  besieged 
city,  open  to  the  assaults  of  many  enemies.  Save  us,  O 
Saviour,  from  their  malice  :  and  as  thou  didst  deliver  thy 
prophet  Elisha,  when  he  was  compassed  about  in  Dothan  by 
the  hosts  of  the  kings  of  Syria,  so  deliver  us  who  are  now 
encompassed  by  the  fury  and  the  wiles  of  Satan.  Make  us  so 
to  feel  that  thou  art  a  sure  help,  that  our  minds  may  not  faint 
nor  fear,  nor  our  hearts  be  disquieted  within  us ;  so  that, 
enjoying  the  steadfastness  of  faith,  as  well  as  the  quiet  of 
peace  and  concord,  and  the  tranquillity  of  a  conscience  void 
of  offence,  we  may  in  all  things  have  peace,  O  Lord,  our  God. 
From  this  enlargement  of  the  Collect  for  Peace,  you  may 
learn  how  to  enlarge  and  apply  the  petitions  in  the  other 
prayers.  These  petitions,  I  need  scarcely  observe,  must  be 
general ;  that  is,  they  must  be  so  drawn  up  and  expressed  as 


392  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

to  suit  the  feelings  and  the  situations  of  a  great  number  and 
variety  of  persons.     It  must  be  left  for  each  person,  and  it 
is  the  business  and  duty  of  each,  to  apply  these  general 
petitions  to  his  own  particular  wants.     With  regard  to  some 
of  the  Collects  there  may  perhaps  be  a  difficulty  in  doing 
this.     But  in  the  Litany  it  is  easy.     One  of  the  great  ad- 
vantages of  the  Litany  is,  that  it  goes  into  details,  and  men- 
tions one  after  another,  almost  every  blessing  temporal  and 
spiritual  which  man  can  be  in  need  of     Moreover  there  is 
scarcely  any  class  of  persons,  however  high  or  low,  from  the 
king  on  his  throne  to  the  captive  in  the  dungeon,  who  is  not 
especially  recommended  to  God's  mercy  in  it.     You  should 
attend  to  this :  as  each  of  these  petitions  is  offered  up  to 
God  in  turn,  you  should  ask  his  favour  for  the  particular 
person  whom  the  words  may  bring  into  your  mind.     A  com- 
mon instance  will  make  my  meaning  plain.     AVe  pray  God 
that  it  may  please  him  to  preserve  all  that  travel  by  land  or 
by  water.     Here  is  a  large  class  of  persons,  exposed  to 
dangers  of  divers  kinds,  whom  we  specially  recommend  to 
God's  mercy.     Now  a  pious  Christian  will  not  allow  these 
words  to  be  repeated  in  his  hearing,  without  thinking  of 
their  meaning.     Has  he  a  relation  or  a  friend  in  far  coun- 
tries, exposed  to  the  perils  of  foreign  climates?  has  he  a 
brother  on  the  wide  sea?  he  will  think  of  that  relation,  of 
that  friend,  of  that  brother,  and  will  beg  a  blessing  on  him 
in  his  heart,  while  the  minister  is  repeating  the  words.    This 
is  what  I  meant  when  I  exhorted  you  to  apply  the  general 
petitions  of  the  Church-prayers  each  to  your  own  particular 
case. 

After  the  Litany  comes  the  general  Thanksgiving,  which 
in  like  manner  I  would  have  every  one  apply  to  his  own 
case,  by  giving  thanks  to  God  in  his  heart  for  any  particular 
blessings  that  may  have  been  vouchsafed  to  him  or  to  his 
during  the  past  week.     For  instance,  if  I  may  speak  of  my- 


COLLECTS    AND    LITANY.  393 


self,  you  cannot  suppose  that,  when  I  read  the  Thanksgiving 
to  you  last  Sunday,  it  did  not  call  up  in  my  mind  a  grateful 
sense  of  God's  mercy,  in  having  kept  us  free  from  fire,  while 
there  have  been  so  many  burnings  on  all  sides,  in  having 
saved  this  parish  from  becoming  the  scene  of  murder,  and 
in  having  preserved  my  neighbour's  life  and  my  own  a  few 
days  before  from  the  danger  that  threatened  them.  If  I 
had  not  felt  gratitude  for  such  mercies,  my  heart  must  have 
been  harder  than  a  stone. 

In  this  Thanksgiving  the  first  thing  that  strikes  us  is  the 
lowliness  of  tone  that  runs  through  it.  We  begin  by  calling 
ourselves  God's  "  unworthy  servants,"  thereby  confessing 
that  we  know  ourselves  to  be  undeserving  of  the  least  of  all 
his  mercies.  We  give  him  "  humble,"  as  well  as  "  hearty 
thanks : "  and  then,  after  mentioning  a  few  of  the  chief 
proofs  of  God's  goodness  and  loving-kindness  to  us,  we  turn 
our  thanksgiving  into  a  prayer.  We  are  not  contented,  like 
the  Pharisee  in  the  parable,  with  giving  God  thanks ;  but, 
knowing  how  imperfect  our  very  best  thanks  are,  and  how 
apt  our  thankfulness  is  to  wax  cold,  we  beseech  God  to  give 
us  a  due  sense  of  his  mercies,  and  to  make  us  unfeignedly 
thankful,  in  order  that  we  may  ofter  him  the  only  return 
which  he  requires  and  values,  the  return  of  a  life  given 
up  to  his  service,  and  spent  in  holiness  and  righteousness, 
— that  is,  in  the  faithful  and  steady  performance  of  all  our 
duties  both  to  God  and  to  man. 

This  lowliness  and  humility  is  the  first  thing  I  would  have 
you  remark  in  the  general  Thanksgiving.  The  next  is  the 
nature  of  the  mercies  for  which  we  desire  to  be  made  so 
truly  thankful.  The  blessings  of  our  naUiral  and  bodily  life, 
such  as  our  having  been  brought  into  being,  and  kept  alive 
unto  this  day, — great  and  wonderful  as  these  gifts  are,  and 
clearly  as  they  bear  witness  to  God's  protecting  care, — are 
passed  over  in  a  few  words.     What  the  prayer  teaches  us  to 


394  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

dwell  on  "  above  all,"  is  the  inestimable,  that  is,  the  count- 
less love, — the  love  concerning  which  we  can  only  know 
that  it  is  far  above  knowledge, — which  God  has  shewn  in 
saving  the  world  by  sending  his  only  Son  to  die  for  us. 
This  is  the  first  of  the  three  blessings  we  are  "above  all"  to 
be  thankful  for.  The  second  is  "  the  means  of  grace,"  or 
the  help  which  God  has  promised  us  toward  doing  his  will 
by  sending  us  the  Holy  Ghost.  Without  this  second  bless- 
ing, the  first  would  have  been  nearly  useless.  For  Christ 
came  to  redeem  unto  himself — mark  whom  ? — not  sinners, — 
not  persons  walking  as  others  walk,  after  their  own  idle 
fancies,  or  after  the  customs  of  the  world :  he  came  to  re- 
deem unto  himself  "  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of  good 
works."  (Tit.  ii.  14.)  So  that,  if  we  had  not  the  means  of 
performing  these  good  works  granted  to  us, — seeing  that, 
owing  to  our  corrupt  nature,  we  cannot  do  them  of  our- 
selves,— we  should  indeed  be  in  an  evil  strait :  and  Christ's 
death  would  profit  us  as  little,  as  the  healing  waters  of 
Bethesda  profited  the  impotent  man,  who  had  no  one 
to  put  him  into  them.  But  now  God  has  given  us  the 
means  of  grace,  by  sending  us  his  Holy  Spirit :  and  every 
one  who  prays  to  him  heartily  for  help,  will  in  course  of 
time  find  himself  strengthened  to  work  the  works  of  God. 
Lastly,  we  are  to  bless  and  praise  God  for  setting  before  us 
the  hope  of  glory,  for  calling  us  poor  worms,  the  children  of 
the  dust,  to  an  eternal  inheritance  in  the  heavens, — an  in- 
heritance which  he  came  down  to  earth  on  purpose  to  place 
within  our  reach,  if  we  will  only  throw  aside  our  evil  habits, 
and  go  straightforward  and  lay  hold  on  it. 

These  three  gifts,  the  gift  of  his  Son,  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  gift  of  eternal  life,  are  indeed  such  unspeakable 
benefits,  that  to  praise  them  would  require  an  angel's  tongue. 
But  something  to  prove  our  sense  of  them  we  may  all  do. 
^ye  may  prove  our  thankfulness  for  Christ's  death,  by  eschew- 


COLLECTS    AND    LITANY.  395 

ing  sin  on  account  of  which  he  died.  We  may  prove  our 
thankfuhiess  for  the  means  of  grace,  by  diligently  using  all 
the  lesser  means  of  grace,  such  as  prayer,  at  church,  and  at 
home,  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  above  all,  the  holy  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  all  which  means  in  this  favoured 
land  are  so  abundantly  vouchsafed  to  every  one.  Lastly,  we 
may  shew  forth  and  prove  our  thankfulness  for  the  hope  of 
glory,  by  pressing  forward  to  obtain  it,  with  all  humility, 
patience,  and  perseverance.  May  God  give  you  that  hope, 
strengthen  it,  and  fulfil  it ! 

What  I  had  to  say  to  you  on  the  Morning  Service  of  our 
Church,  is  now  brought  to  a  close.  Would  that  it  might 
enable  some  of  you  at  least  to  discern  the  spirit  of  that 
admirable  service  more  clearly  than  you  did  before  !  that  it 
might  lead  you  to  understand  it  better,  might  give  you  a 
truer  notion  of  its  exceeding  fulness,  and  shew  you  how  to 
use  it,  and  to  apply  it  each  to  his  own  wants  and  needs  !  I 
began  by  trying  to  convince  you  of  the  duty  of  praying  with 
the  spirit,  as  becomes  Christians,  and  at  the  same  time  of 
praying  with  the  understanding,  as  becomes  reasonable 
beings.  With  the  same  exhortation  I  will  conclude.  Always 
pray  with  the  spirit:  always  pray  with  the  understanding. 
Study  the  prayers  and  services  of  the  Church  :  think  well 
and  often  of  their  meaning :  listen  to  them ;  join  in  them ; 
read  them  ;  offer  them  up  to  God  from  the  bottom  of  your 
hearts.  So  will  God  hear  your  prayers,  and  grant  them  in 
the  way  that  he  knows  to  be  best  for  you.  He  will  bring 
you  in  this  world  to  the  knowledge  of  his  truth,  and  in  the 
world  to  come  will  give  you  life  everlasting. 


XXXIII. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER:  First  Part. 
THE  ADDRESS. 

Luke  xi.  2. 

He  said  unto  them,  When  ye  pray,  say,  Our  Father  which 
art  in  heaven. 

T^HE  chapter  from  which  these  words  are  taken,  begins 
-*-  as  follows.  "  It  came  to  pass  that,  as  Jesus  was  pray- 
ing, when  he  ceased,  one  of  his  disciples  said  to  him, — Lord, 
teach  us  to  pray.  And  he  said  to  them,  When  ye  pray  say, 
— Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven."  The  same,  or  nearly 
the  same  prayer, — for  two  or  three  words  in  it  are  different, 
— is  given  by  St.  Matthew  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Nor  is  this  at  all  surprising :  for,  seeing  that  our  Saviour  was 
not  fixed  to  any  one  particular  spot,  but  went  about  teaching 
over  the  whole  country,  we  can  easily  understand  that  he 
should  have  thought  fit  at  times  to  repeat  the  same  parable, 
or  the  same  prayer,  first  to  one  set  of  hearers,  and  then  to 
another.  St.  Luke's  account  however  is  enough  for  us  ;  and 
we  need  not  look  any  further.  One  command  from  our 
Lord  is  as  binding  as  ten  thousand.  In  St.  Luke  we  have 
the  command  in  plain  words  :  "  When  ye  pray,  say."  And 
truly  it  would  be  well,  if  every  command  in  the  New  Testa- 


THE   ADDRESS. 


397 


ment  were  kept  as  closely  to  the  letter,  as  this  of  saying  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  It  is  the  first  prayer  a  child  learns,  and 
except  perhaps  a  collect  or  two,  very  often  the  only  one. 
Many  persons  go  through  life  without  being  able  to  repeat 
any  prayer  by  themselves  besides.  It  is  a  prayer  too  in 
constant  use.  I  doubt  not  there  are  many  amongst  you, 
who  say  it  regularly  every  night  and  morning.  Now  just 
think  what  that  comes  to  even  in  a  single  twelvemonth.  If 
you  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  twice  every  day,  you  repeat  it 
about  seven  hundred  times  in  a  year,  without  counting  the 
many  times  you  are  called  on  to  repeat  it  and  to  hear  it  in 
church  on  Sundays. 

Why  do  I  mention  these  things  ?  why  do  I  remind  you  of 
the  seven  hundred  times  a-year  that  you  are  in  the  habit 
of  repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer  ?  In  order  to  make  you  feel 
the  importance  of  thoroughly  understanding  it.  It  may  be 
excusable  in  very  little  children  to  repeat  the  mere  words, 
provided  they  do  so  with  a  proper  sense  of  fear  and  love, 
such  as  you  may  easily  teach  them  to  cherish  for  their 
heavenly  Father,  by  telling  them  that  he  sits  like  a  king 
above  the  glorious  sun,  and  yet  is  good  enough  to  send  his 
angels  down  to  watch  over  little  children.  And  I  would 
have  you  all  tell  them  this.  I  would  have  you  talk  to  your 
children  from  the  very  first  about  God,  and  talk  of  him 
in  such  a  way  as  may  lead  them  to  fear  and  to  love  him. 
Make  them  understand,  that,  when  they  kneel  down  to  say 
their  prayers,  they  are  going  to  speak  to  God  Almighty,  and 
to  ask  him  to  do  all  manner  of  good  to  you,  their  parents, 
to  their  brothers  and  sisters,  and  to  themselves.  If  you  do 
make  them  feel  and  understand  this,  if  you  teach  them  to 
lift  up  their  little  hands  and  hearts  together,  God  will  be 
pleased  with  their  innocent  prayer,  and  will  not  require  from 
them  thoughts  and  understanding  above  their  years.  But 
though  this  simple  service  is  doubtless  acceptable  to  him. 


398  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

when  it  comes  from  young  children,  because  it  is  the  best 
they  can  ofter,  yet  all  who  can  must  offer  more.  Those  who 
are  old  enough  to  pray  with  the  understanding,  are  bound 
to  pray  with  the  understanding.  We  must  not  always  be 
children  in  addressing  God,  and  go  on  year  after  year 
repeating  words  without  meaning.  We  must  learn  to  see 
and  feel  the  sense  of  our  prayers,  and  to  weigh  the  words 
well  before  we  utter  them,  that  we  may  know  what  we  are 
asking  God  to  give  us.  This,  you  may  be  sure,  was  our 
Lord's  purpose  in  teaching  us  his  prayer.  The  words  have 
no  charm  in  them :  they  have  no  power  of  themselves  to 
draw  down  blessings  from  above,  or  to  please  the  God  of 
wisdom  and  truth.  On  the  contrary  we  shall  rather  provoke 
God,  by  using  them  carelessly  and  unthinkingly.  You  know, 
I  do  not  say  this  to  dissuade  you  from  praying.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  duty  which  I  have  recommended  to  you  oftener. 
It  is  your  duty  to  pray.  It  is  your  privilege  as  Christians  to 
speak  to  the  King  of  heaven.  It  was  for  fear  you  should  be 
at  a  loss  for  words  to  do  so,  or  should  not  know  how  to 
pray,  or  what  to  pray  for,  that  our  Lord  taught  you  all  this 
in  his  prayer ;  which  is  so  short,  that  the  busiest  may  use  it, 
so  plain  that  the  most  unlearned  may  understand  it,  yet  so 
full  of  meaning,  that  the  wisest  with  all  their  thoughts,  will 
never  be  tired  of  it,  or  have  done  with  it.  Be  duly  grateful 
then  to  Christ,  your  Master,  for  having  given  you  such  a 
prayer.  Use  I'c  constantly :  but  use  it  like  men  who  are 
fulfilling  a  reasonable  service:  use  it  like  Christians,  who 
know  that  they  must  worship  God  in  truth,  and  must 
pray  to  him  both  with  the  spirit  and  with  the  under- 
standing. 

For  the  sake  of  helping  you  in  doing  so,  better  perhaps 
than  you  have  hitherto  been  wont,  I  shall  endeavour  in  this 
and  some  following  sermons  to  shew  you  as  much  as  I  can 
of  the    meaning   of  this    excellent   prayer.      The   Lord's 


THE   ADDRESS.  399 


Prayer,  as  it  stands  in  St.  Luke,  may  be  divided  into  three 
parts.  First  there  is  a  short  address,  or  invocation,  in 
which  we  declare  to  whom  we  are  speaking :  "  Our  Father, 
which  art  in  heaven."  Next  come  petitions  for  the  glorifyuig 
of  God's  holy  name,  for  the  increase  of  his  kingdom,  and 
the  establishment  of  his  authority  over  the  hearts  and  wills 
of  men.  These  are  followed  by  petitions  for  the  relief  of 
our  own  necessities,  and  the  supply  of  our  wants,  both  in 
body  and  soul.  In  St.  Matthew's  report  of  it,  the  whole  is 
wound  up  with  a  humble  acknowledgment  that  we  are 
God's  subjects,  that  he  alone  is  able  to  help  us,  and  that 
every  good  gift  cometh  from  him.  Such  in  a  few  words  is 
the  outline  of  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  and  such  are  the  parts  it 
consists  of.  For  the  present  we  will  confine  ourselves  to 
the  first. 

That  first  part  I  have  called  the  address,  or  the  invoca- 
tion, because  in  it  we  invoke  or  call  upon  God  by  name, 
and  tell  him,  as  it  were,  that  we  are  going  to  speak  to  him, 
and  beg  him  to  listen  to  what  we  are  about  to  say.  Now 
what  is  the  name,  which  we  are  here  taught  to  use  in  telling 
our  wants  to  God?  I  would  have  you  mark  this  well.  In 
the  Old  Testament,  you  know,  God  is  spoken  of  under 
divers  names,  as  God  Almighty,  the  Lord,  the  Lord  God, 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  These  are  the  titles  most  com- 
monly given  to  God  in  the  Old  Testament.  They  are 
names  that  speak  of  him  as  he  is  in  himself,  glorious  and 
infinite  in  holiness  and  in  power.  But  turn  to  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  see  what  God  is  called  in  it.  Is  it  by  any  of 
these  names  of  greatness  and  might,  which  I  have  just 
recounted  to  you  ?  No :  they  are  too  awful :  they  might 
frighten  us  away  from  his  mercy-seat.  Therefore  God,  who 
waits  to  be  gracious,  and  desires  to  draw  us  to  him,  has 
taught  us  by  his  dear  Son  to  call  him  by  a  name  of  love, 


400  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

a  name  expressing  his  love  and  his  care  for  us.  We  are 
permitted  to  address  him  as  our  Father, 

This  name,  by  which  we  are  commanded  to  call  upon 
God,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  things  in  the  whole 
prayer.  There  are  the  seeds  of  it  indeed  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, just  as  there  are  seeds  of  the  other  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  For  instance,  we  read  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  ist 
Book  of  Chronicles,  that  David,  when  he  blessed  the  Lord 
in  the  joy  of  his  heart  at  the  sight  of  the  rich  offerings 
brought  for  the  building  of  the  temple,  said,  "■  Blessed  be 
thou.  Lord  God  of  Israel,  our  Father,  for  ever  and  ever !  " 
So  in  two  or  three  passages  of  the  prophets  the  Jews  are 
described  as  claiming  God's  protection  on  the  ground  of  his 
being  their  Father.  Yet  even  in  these  passages,  in  which 
God  bears  that  name,  it  is  rather  as  the  father  of  the  Jewish 
people.  To  fix  upon  that  tender  name,  to  choose  it  out 
from  all  God's  other  greater  titles,  and  to  appoint  it  as  the 
special  name  by  which  Almighty  God  is  to  be  addressed  by 
all  his  sinful  creatures,  whenever  they  pray  to  him, — this 
was  Christ's  doing :  this  privilege  we  owe  to  him. 

To  us  indeed,  who  have  been  accustomed  to  it  from 
infancy,  it  may  seem  almost  a  matter  of  course  to  call  God 
Father.  But  to  do  it,  and  that  too  with  a  certainty  that  he 
approves  of  it,  is  so  far  from  being  a  matter  of  course,  that, 
if  God  had  not  expressly  authorized  and  commanded  us, 
we  should  never  have  dared  address  him  by  that  name :  we 
should  have  felt  it  too  great  a  presumption  to  claim  relation 
with  the  Lord  of  the  universe.  For  just  consider:  what 
should  we  think  of  a  worm,  if  it  could  speak,  calhng  God  its 
Father  ?  Should  not  we  think  it  a  piece  of  mad  presump- 
tion ?  Yet  in  one  sense  he  is  as  much  the  worm's  father, 
as  he  is  ours  :  for  he  made  the  worm,  as  well  as  man.  Now 
the  same  sort  of  feeling,  which  would  lead  us  to  charge  the 
worm  with  presumption  for  calling  God  its  Father,  would,  I 


THE    ADDRESS.  40 1 


think,  have  withheld  us  from  calHng  him  our  Father,  if  we 
had  not  been  authorized  and  commanded  to  do  so.  No 
such  commandment,  so  far  as  appears  from  the  Bible,  was 
ever  given  to  the  children  of  Israel ;  at  least  never  with 
sufficient  distinction  to  be  acted  on.  In  the  song  of  Moses 
indeed  (Deut.  xxxii.  6),  the  question  is  asked  :  "  Is  not  the 
Lord  thy  Father  that  hath  bought  thee  ?"  But  this  again  is 
said  with  reference  to  the  whole  Jewish  people,  and  to 
God's  especial  protection  of  them.  In  fact  God  v/as  the 
King  of  Israel ;  but  he  never  proclaimed  himself  the  Father 
of  each  individual  Israelite.  That  better  and  more  loving 
name  was  kept  for.  us,  who  are  specially  made  his  children 
by  adoption.  It  was  an  additional  privilege  purchased  for 
us  by  the  merits  of  the  blood  of  Christ.  Would  you  know 
the  value  of  that  privilege  ?  Hear  what  St.  Paul  says  of  it. 
"  Ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  "  (the  Jewish 
spirit)  "  again  to  fear :  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of 
adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father.  And  if  we  are 
the  children  of  God,  then  are  we  heirs  of  God,  and  joint- 
heirs  with  Christ."  (Rom.  viii.  15-17.)  And  again  (Gal. 
iv.  6)  :  "  Because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father. 
Wherefore  thou  art  no  more  a  servant,  but  a  son :  and,  if  a 
son,  then  an  heir  of  God  through  Christ."  Thus  you  see, 
St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  privilege  of  calling  God  Father,  as  a 
new  thing,  recently  granted  to  the  sons  of  man,  on  their 
receiving  the  spirit  of  adoption,  and  being  made  the  sons  of 
God.  You  see  too  with  what  great  things  this  new  privilege 
is  said  to  be  connected  ;  provided  always  that,  in  calling 
God  Father,  we  do  so  from  our  hearts :  for  vain  words  and 
empty  lip-service  are  the  known  objects  of  God's  displeasure. 
If  however  we  can  call  God  our  Father  in  the  sincerity  of 
our  hearts,  St.  Paul  teaches  us  to  look  upon  this  as  a  sign 
that  God  has  taken  us  into  favour,  and  considers  us  as  his 

D   D 


402  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


children,  and  has  appointed  us  an  inheritance  among  Christ's 
brethren. 

But  without  dwelling  further  on  this  highest  view  of  the 
matter,  any  one  may  see  what  a  step  Christ  gave  us  toward 
heaven,  by  commanding  us  to  address  our  Maker,  not  as 
our  God  and  King,  but  as  our  Father.  Any  one  may  see 
and  feel  what  a  pledge  the  name  contains  that  God  will 
listen  to  our  prayers.  Nothing  is  commoner  than  for  a 
child,  when  it  has  been  ill-used,  to  say,  "  I  will  run  and  tell 
father."  Take  a  lesson,  my  friends,  from  your  children; 
and  in  all  your  sorrows,  in  all  your  troubles,  in  all  your 
wants,  in  all  your  temptations,  in  all  your  repentance,  run 
for  help  to  your  Father,  who  is  your  God. 

That  you  may  do  so  the  more  readily,  remember  where 
that  Father  dwells.  It  is  a  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that 
you  are  to  pray  to.  Therefore  he  must  be  most  gracious ; 
or  he  would  never  have  allowed  you  to  call  him  by  such  a 
name.  He  must  be  most  powerful :  for  he  is  high  above  all 
things.  He  must  be  most  wise ;  for  he  made  the  world.  He 
is  everlasting,  and  will  endure  without  a  change,  when  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  have  passed  away.  Having  then  a 
Father,  who  is  so  powerful  and  so  wise,  and  who  is  also 
unchangeable  and  everlasting,  what  an  anchor  of  hope  must 
this  thought  be  to  us  !  His  wisdom  assures  us,  that  he  will 
find  a  way  so  as  to  arrange  the  affairs  of  this  world,  that  all 
our  trials  shall  work  together  for  our  good,  if  we  will  only 
trust  in  him  and  love  him.  His  power  assures  us,  that, 
whatever  he  pleases  to  do  for  us  he  can  do  :  if  he  is  for  us, 
no  enemy  can  overcome  us :  if  he  defends  us,  no  evil  can 
harm  us  :  if  he  has  prepared  an  inheritance  for  us,  nothing 
but  our  own  fault  can  hinder  our  attaining  to  it.  For  still 
more  to  secure  the  promise  of  this  inheritance,  he  is  also 
everlasting  and  unchangeable.  What  he  has  purposed 
once,  he  will  purpose  to  all  eternity ;  and  all  that  he  has 


THE   ADDRESS.  403 


promised  to  his  faithful  children,  he  will  be  careful  as  well 
as  able  to  perform.  He  may  indeed  make  them  wait  for  it, 
till  he  has  tried  their  faith  and  patience  by  the  delay.  But 
the  word  of  the  Lord  standeth  fast  for  ever ;  and  all  who 
have  the  patience  to  wait  their  Father's  good  time,  shall  in 
the  end  see  his  promises  fulfilled. 

Such  are  some  of  the  comfortable  thoughts  most  likely  to 
spring  up  in  the  mind  of  every  one  who  feels  that  he  has  a 
heavenly  Father  to  call  upon  and  trust  in  for  help.  But 
every  privilege  has  its  corresponding  duty.  Every  gift  is  a 
talent  and  a  trust,  for  which  we  are  to  make  God  a  return. 
Let  us  consider  therefore,  what  duties  the  privilege,  which 
Christ  has  bought  for  us,  of  calling  God  our  Father,  brings 
with  it. 

The  first  and  chief  duty  is  the  behaving  to  him  as  chil- 
dren should  behave  to  their  father.  "  Why  call  ye  me, 
Lord,  Lord,"  said  our  Saviour  during  his  stay  on  earth, 
"and  do  not  the  things  which  I  say?"  (Luke  vi.  46.)  Why 
call  ye  me  your  heavenly  Father,  will  God  say  to  us  from 
heaven,  and  feel  not  toward  me  as  sons  ought  to  feel  ?  It 
is  true,  God  is  the  Father  of  all,  evil  as  well  as  good.  But 
a  father  may  have  disobedient,  rebelHous  children  :  and  all 
who  disobey  and  rebel  against  God, — nay,  all  who  forget 
and  neglect  him, — God  will  be  no  Father  to  them.  He  will 
disown  them  :  they  will  find  that  they  have  forfeited  their 
inheritance  :  they  will  be  banished  from  his  presence  :  they 
will  never  taste  the  joys  which  he  has  prepared  for  his  duti- 
ful children.  Therefore,  I  repeat  it,  we  must  feel  toward 
God  as  children,  we  must  behave  to  him  as  children,  that 
we  may  not  lose  the  blessing  and  the  inheritance  which 
Christ  has  purchased  for  us  at  so  great  a  price.  If  we  were 
forbidden  any  of  us  henceforth  to  pray  to  God  as  our  Father 
again,  should  not  we  grieve  at  the  loss,  and  feel  that  we  had 
been  deprived  of  a  great  privilege?    Yet  all  who  do  not 


404 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


pray  to  God  at  all,  and  all  who  pray  to  him  without  thinking, 
and  all  who  lead  such  lives  that  their  prayers  are  litde  better 
than  a  mockery,— all  these  do  in  fact  deprive  themselves  of 
the  right  and  happiness  of  calling  God  their  Father.  If  we 
are  aware  how  great  a  privilege  it  is,  let  us  prove  our  sense  of 
it  by  using  it  diligently.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of  using 
it  too  often.  Pray  as  often  as  ever  you  will,  you  cannot 
weary  God  with  your  petitions.  To  the  prayer  of  the  duti- 
ful and  godly  heart  his  ears  are  always  open. 

But  as  the  permission  to  call  God  our  Father  should 
make  us  love  him,  and  encourage  us  to  pray  to  him,  so  the 
knowledge  that  our  Father  is  in  heaven,  and  can  do  what- 
soever he  pleases,  should  fill  us  with  faith  and  a  courageous 
trust  in  him.  Moreover  it  should  raise  our  thoughts  to 
heaven,  and  lead  us  to  think  of  it,  and  to  love  it  as  our 
home.  For  what  is  home  to  a  child,  but  where  its  father 
lives  ?  If  our  Father  then  be  dwelling  in  heaven,  heaven 
must  be  our  home.  True,  it  is  a  home  we  have  never  yet 
seen.  For  we  are  like  a  king's  children  put  out  to  nurse, 
and  sent  to  school,  at  a  distance  from  the  palace,  to  be 
brought  up  hardily,  and  discipHned  by  divers  kinds  of  trials, 
until  we  have  learnt  steadiness  and  self-knowledge  enough 
to  be  admitted  into  our  Father's  glorious  mansions.  But, 
though  we  have  never  seen  heaven,  yet  we  know  enough  of 
it  from  Scripture  to  enable  us  to  think  of  it,  till  our  hearts 
kindle  at  the  thought  into  an  active  desire  of  going  thither. 
We  know  quite  enough  of  it  to  teach  us  what  we  must  do 
in  order  that  we  may  be  fitted  for  becoming  dwellers  there. 
We  are  told  that  it  is  the  abode  of  happiness,  the  abode  of 
love,  the  abode  of  peace,  the  abode  of  holiness  :  we  know 
that  no  unclean  thing  can  enter  there,  that  no  sinner  can 
gain  admission,  that  no  soul  spotted  with  that  hideous 
leprosy  will  be  allowed  to  carry  its  loathsomeness  into  the 
presence  of  God.     Above  all  we  know  that  heaven  is  our 


THE    ADDRESS.  405 


home,  the  place  we  ought  to  be  journeying  to,  the  city  of 
our  destination,  where  our  happiness  is  to  consist  in  seeing 
our  Father,  and  gazing  on  him  till  we  become  like  him. 

Here  then  is  abundance  of  materials,  out  of  which  to 
regulate  our  lives,  and  to  dress  our  thoughts  for  prayer.  For 
such  as  heaven  is,  such  should  we  be  at  all  times,  but  more 
especially  at  the  times  when  we  are  praying  to  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.  The  more  spiritual,  the  more  peaceful, 
the  humbler  our  frame  of  mind,  the  fitter  will  it  be  for 
speaking  to  the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  the  Father  of  Spirits, 
the  Prince  of  Peace.  On  the  other  hand,  to  address  so 
mighty  and  holy  a  Being  with  hearts  full  of  earth  and  the 
things  of  earth, — to  speak  as  if  we  considered  heaven  our 
home,  when  we  are  laying  up  our  treasure  on  earth, — to 
profess  that  we  are  only  journeying  through  this  life  to 
another,  and  yet  neither  make  provision  nor  wish  for  that 
other  enduring  life,  and  to  spend  our  time  as  if  this  world 
were  our  all, — what  is  this  but  a  mockery  of  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  ?  and  what  effect  can  such  a  way  of 
praying  and  of  living  have,  except  to  draw  down  condem- 
nation on  our  heads  ? 

Thus  have  I  endeavoured  to  set  before  you  the  great 
mercy  and  loving-kindness  of  the  God  of  heaven,  in  humbling 
himself  to  behold  the  things  that  are  done  in  the  earth,  and 
in  allowing  such  creatures  as  we  are  to  address  him  by  the 
dear  and  honoured  name  of  Father.  I  have  shewn  you  that 
this  is  a  christian  privilege.  I  have  shewn  you  the  value 
you  ought  to  set  on  it,  and  the  use  you  ought  to  make  of  it. 
Lastly,  I  have  spoken  to  you  of  the  feelings  with  which  it 
becomes  us,  outcasts  from  Paradise,  to  lift  up  our  hearts  to 
our  God  and  Father,  during  our  banishment  and  schooling 
here  below.  But  there  is  still  one  little  word  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  as  yet  I  have  made  no 
remark  on.    That  word  is  our.    We  are  commanded  to  say, 


4o6  THE   ALTON    SERMONS, 


our  Father,  and  not  my  Father,  to  teach  us  not  to  pray  for 
ourselves  alone,  but  for  the  whole  family  of  God  and  Christ 
on  earth.  When  we  say,  Our  Father,  we  ought  to  bear  in 
mind  that  God  has  other  children  beside  us,  children  who 
have  equal  claims  on  his  mercy  and  love,  children  whom  he 
loves  as  well  as  us,  and  that,  if  they  are  more  pious  and 
more  obedient,  he  loves  them  better.  We  should  remember 
too  that,  if  we  are  all  the  sons  of  one  common  Father,  we 
must  all  be  brothers  and  sisters.  Here  is  a  fruitful  subject 
for  self-examination.  Do  we  love  as  brothers  ?  Do  we  live 
together  as  brothers  ought  to  live,  in  peace  and  concord  ? 
Do  we  help  each  other  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  ?  Do 
we  rejoice  in  our  brothers*  prosperity,  though  the  like  may 
not  befall  ourselves?  Do  we  feel  that  concern  for  their 
welfare,  not  in  body  only  but  in  soul,  which  ought  to  live  in 
the  hearts  of  all  such  as  declare  themselves  before  God  to 
be  members  of  one  great  family,  by  praying  not  for  our- 
selves alone,  but  in  the  same  breath  for  our  brethren  also  ? 
This  is  the  way  in  which  the  words  of  Scripture  may  be 
spiritualized  and  turned  to  profit, — namely,  by  pondering 
their  meaning.  The  more  we  look,  the  more  we  shall  find. 
Every  step  we  take  in  the  word  of  God  brings  out  fresh  and 
iresh  truths  to  us,  and  reveals  some  new,  unthought-of 
lesson  of  wisdom  and  holiness.  By  this  one  little  word,  our, 
we  are  reminded  that  the  bond  of  brotherhood  which  links 
us  together  as  children  of  the  same  Father  ought  at  all 
tunes  to  be  so  present  to  us,  that  we  are  to  mention  it  even 
in  our  prayers.  We  are  not  even  to  speak  to  God,  except 
as  members  of  a  great  family :  we  are  not  even  to  pray  for 
general  and  common  blessings  to  ourselves,  without  asking 
God  to  grant  the  same  blessings  to  our  neighbours  also. 

Such,  my  brethren,  are  the  thoughts  which  the  opening  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer  is  fitted  to  awaken  in  the  true  Christian. 
Such  are  the  feelings  with  which  we  are  to  come  to  God,  when 


THE    ADDRESS.  407 


we  pray  to  him.  We  are  to  come  to  him  humbly  and 
gratefully  for  his  merciful  grace  in  admitting  us  so  lovingly 
into  his  mighty  presence.  We  are  to  come  to  him  in  faith 
and  trust ;  for  he  is  faithful,  and  will  perform.  We  are  to  come 
to  him  with  hearts  full  of  love  toward  our  neighbours  :  for 
he  is  their  Father  as  well  as  ours :  and  no  good  father  will 
listen  to  a  son,  who  does  not  wish  well  to  his  brothers,  and 
think  well  of  them,  and  speak  well  of  them,  and  do  all  the 
good  he  can  to  them.  In  a  word,  the  address  at  the  head 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  an  exhortation  to  us  to  fulfil  both 
the  two  great  commandments.  "  I  am  your  Father,"  saith 
God :  "  therefore  love  me.  Your  neighbours  are  my 
children  :  therefore  love  your  brethren." 


XXXIV. 

TPIE  LORD'S  PRAYER:  Second  PART. 
GOD'S  NAME:    JUSTICE  AND  MERCY. 

Luke  xi.  2. 
Hallowed  be  Ihy  name. 

T  T  AVING  set  before  you  the  thoughts  and  feelmgs  which 
-'-  -■■  our  Saviour  seems  to  have  purposed  to  excite  and 
call  up  in  our  souls,  when  he  taught  us  to  begin  our  prayer 
with  saying,  "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven,"  I  shall  now 
go  on  to  explain  the  second  part  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in 
which  we  tell  our  heavenly  Father  what  are  the  first  and 
dearest  wishes  of  our  hearts.  That  second  part  is  made  up 
of  three  petitions ;  petitions  for  what  ?  for  our  own  welfare  ? 
for  our  own  health  or  wealth  ?  for  our  own  greatness  ?  for 
our  own  honour  ?  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  own  sins  ?  for 
any  one  of  the  countless  things  that  men's  hearts  are  usually 
set  on?  Nothing  of  the  sort.  The  petitions  which  Jesus 
has  taught  us  to  offer  up  in  the  second  part  of  his  Prayer, 
are  not  for  our  own  honour,  but  for  God's ;  that  his  name 
may  be  hallowed  and  glorified, — that  his  kingdom  may  be 
spread  over  the  earth, — that  his  will  may  rule  over  the 
hearts  and  affections  of  all  mankind.  The  prayer  does  not 
say,  Grant,  O  Father,  that  our  names  may  be  held  in 
honour  ; — but,  "  Hallowed  be  thy  name  !  "  It  does  not 
say,  May  riches,  and  power,  and   health,  and  every  other 


GOD  S   NAME  :     JUSTICE    AND    MERCY.  409 

good  thing  come  to  us ;  but,  "Thy  kingdom  come  !  "  Nor 
does  it  teach  us  to  pray  that  our  own  wills  may  be  granted 
to  us  ;  but,  "  Thy  will  be  done  !  " 

Now  is  not  this  a  marvellous  thing,  brethren  ?  that,  when 
we  are  praying, — that  is,  when  we  are  speaking  to  God 
about  all  our  chiefest  wants,  about  everything  that  we  have 
most  at  heart, — we  are  to  pray  for  God's  glory,  and  God's 
kingdom,  and  the  doing  of  God's  will,  before  We  presume  to 
ask  anything  for  ourselves.  Hence  we  may  learn  how 
entirely  it  is  our  duty  on  all  and  every  occasion  to  give  God, 
and  the  things  of  God,  the  first  place  in  our  hearts.  For 
out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart,  you  know,  the  mouth 
speaketh.  Accordingly  the  same  Lord,  who  here  commands 
us,  when  we  pray,  to  pray  in  the  first  instance  for  such 
things  as  pertain  to  the  glory  of  God,  before  we  say  a  word 
about  our  own  private  needs,  has  taught  us  in  another 
place  that  the  first  thing  we  are  to  seek  for  is  the  kingdom 
of  God  and  his  righteousness,  promising  us  that,  if  we  do  so, 
all  such  things  as  are  necessary  for  our  bodily  life  shall  be 
added  to  us.  My  brethren,  do  you  hear  this  gracious 
promise  ? — it  is  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  makes  it, — that, 
if  we  will  behave  ourselves  to  God  like  dutiful  sons,  if  we 
will  prefer  his  honour  to  our  own  honour,  his  will  to  our 
own  will,  he  on  his  part  will  behave  to  us  like  a  bountiful 
and  loving  Father,  and  will  give  us  the  things  we  have  need 
of  in  such  measure  as  he  shall  think  best  for  us.  Let  not 
this  rich  promise  be  thrown  away  upon  us.  Let  us  take 
hold  of  it,  and  obtain  a  share  in  it.  Let  us  seek  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness  above  and  before  all 
things.  Let  us  make  these  our  first  and  chiefest  objects, 
not  in  word  only,  but  in  deed.  Then  may  we  proceed  with 
all  humility  to  off"er  up  petitions  for  ourselves,  and  pray  God 
of  his  mercy  to  give  us  all  things  needful  both  for  our  souls 
and  our  bodies. 


410  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Do  not  say,  brethren,  that  this  is  a  hard  lesson.  For  are 
you  not  God's  children  ?  Do  you  not  call  God  your 
Father  ?  Believe  that  he  is  so ;  and  all  the  rest  will  be 
easy  to  you.  Is  not  a  good  son  anxious  for  his  father's 
interests  ?  Is  not  a  good  son  jealous  for  his  father's  credit  ? 
Is  not  a  good  son  pained,  if  his  father's  property  is  injured  ? 
Is  not  a  good  son  moved  to  anger,  if  he  hears  his  father  ill 
spoken  of  ?  Only  bear  steadily  in  mind  that  you  are  the 
adopted  sons  of  God ;  and  after  a  time  you  will  find  little 
or  no  difficulty  in  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  You  will  soon  grow  to  think  it  quite  natural  to 
pray  for  your  Father's  honour,  for  your  Father's  kingdom, 
and  for  the  ready  performance  of  your  Father's  will,  before 
you  give  a  thought  to  your  own  wants,  or  frame  a  petition 
for  yourselves. 

Of  the  three  petitions  which  our  Lord  commands  us  to 
offer  up  for  our  Father's  glory,  the  first  is  that  his  name  may 
be  hallowed,  or,  in  other  words,  may  be  made  and  kept 
holy.  Now  what  is  meant  here  by  God's  name  ?  God's 
name,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  is  all  that  we  know 
about  him,  all  that  he  has  been  pleased  to  tell  us  and  declare 
to  us  about  himself.  For  thus  we  read  in  the  Book  of  Exodus 
(xxxiv.  6),  that  "the  Lord  descended  in  the  cloud  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  stood  with  Moses  there,  and  proclaimed  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  passed  by  before  him, 
and  proclaimed.  The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  longsuffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  trans- 
gression and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty." 
Such  is  God's  name,  that  is,  his  nature  and  character,  so  far 
as  he  has  been  pleased  to  make  it  known  to  us  :  and  it  is 
for  the  hallowing  of  his  name,  or  nature,  or  character,  that 
Jesus  teaches  us  to  pray. 

Not  that  God's  name  can  be  more  truly  holy  in  itself  at 


GODS    NAME:    JUSTICE    AND    MERCY.  411 


one  time  than  at  another.  The  name  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  is  always  equally  holy  in  itself;  just  as  the  sun  in 
itself  is  always  equally  hot  and  glorious.  To  us,  however, 
the  sun  is  sometimes  hotter  and  sometimes  colder,  sometimes 
brighter,  and  sometimes  less  bright :  sometimes  too  we  lose 
sight  of  it  altogether,  and  are  left  in  night  and  darkness. 
So  it  is  with  God's  name.  Though  in  itself  it  is  always  holy, 
all-holy,  yet  by  us  sinners  it  is  more  reverenced  and  more 
hallowed  at  one  time  than  at  another.  There  is  a  summer  of 
the  soul,  when  we  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  God's  counte- 
nance ;  and  there  is  also  a  winter  of  the  soul,  when  our  souls 
are  cold  and  wither  for  the  want  of  his  cheering,  enlivening 
presence.  There  is  a  night  too  of  the  soul,  when  we  lose  all 
sense  and  feeling  of  his  holiness,  and  are  as  it  were  left  in 
the  darkness  of  sin.  Therefore,  in  praying  that  God's  name 
may  be  hallowed,  we  pray  that  there  may  be  no  more  spiritual 
winter,  no  more  spiritual  darkness,  but  that  the  souls  of  all 
men  may  at  all  times  feel  the  same  bright  and  gladdening 
sense  of  God's  true  nature  and  character :  we  pray  that  all 
men  may  at  all  times  think  of  God  truly  as  he  is. 

Now  there  is  much  need,  believe  me,  of  praying  for  this. 
There  is  much  need  of  praying  that  we  may  all  of  us  always 
cherish  true  and  holy  and  reverent  thoughts  about  God. 
For  very  few  persons,  I  fear,  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  of 
God  truly  as  he  is.  Very  few  persons  are  in  the  habit  of 
thinking  of  God  exactly  as  he  has  revealed  himself  to  us  in 
the  Bible.  Many  go  so  far  wrong,  that,  when  they  are 
tempted  to  do  evil,  they  will  even  say  in  their  hearts,  "  Tush! 
God  does  not  care  for  this  or  that.  He  will  not  be  so 
severe  as  to  punish  or  mark  such  things  as  sabbath-breaking, 
or  [getting  drunk  now  and  then.  Surely  he  will  overlook 
them  :  surely  he  must  forgive  them."  Now  they  who  speak 
or  think  in  this  manner,  are  so  far  from  hallowing  or  honour- 
ing God's  name,  that  in  fact  they  do  him  the  greatest  dis- 


412  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

honour.  They  lower  his  hoHness,  and  bring  it  down  from 
the  height  and  purity  of  heaven  to  the  low,  crooked,  corrupt 
standard  of  erring  and  sinful  man.  If  God  were  such  a  God 
as  these  wicked  men  fancy,  he  would  no  longer  be  God. 
He  would  want  all  that  hatred  of  wickedness,  and  all  that 
perfect  justice,  which  now  shine  forth  in  him  so  brightly ; 
and  he  would  have  the  easiness,  the  carelessness,  the  good- 
nature, as  we  choose  to  call  it,  but,  more  correctly  speaking, 
the  weakness  of  a  man.  One  may  easily  see  what  an  insult 
it  is  to  God,  to  think  of  him  in  this  low  degrading  manner. 
Accordingly  in  the  50th  Psalm  this  is  the  last  complaint 
brought  forward  by  God  against  the  wicked,  that  they 
thought  him  such  a  one  as  themselves.  "  These  things 
hast  thou  done,"  he  there  says  to  the  wicked  man,  after 
numbering  up  his  sins,  "  these  things  hast  thou  done,  and  I 
held  my  tongue ; — I  did  not  straightway  shew  forth  my 
wrath,  and  send  out  my  vengeance  to  consume  thee ; — and 
thou  thoughtest  wickedly  that  I  am  even  such  a  one  as 
thyself, — unmindful  of  my  word,  and  heedless  of  what  goes 
on  in  the  world. — But  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  before 
thee  the  things  that  thou  hast  done. — I  will  prove  to  thee 
that  I  have  not  forgotten  thy  sins,  but  will  set  them  before 
thee  in  all  their  hatefulness ;  and  not  one  of  the  number 
shall  be  left  out. — O  consider  this,  ye  that  forget  God,  ye  that 
either  banish  him  altogether  from  your  thoughts,  or  dishonour 
him  by  robbing  him  of  his  justice  and  holiness,  consider  this, 
bethink  yourselves  of  my  name,  bethink  yourselves  that  I 
will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty — lest  I  pluck  you  away — 
in  the  very  midst  of  your  sins, — and  there  be  none  to  de- 
liver you."  Such  is  the  meaning  of  God's  language  to  those 
wicked  i)ersons  who  would  make  him  out  to  be  like  them- 
selves, careless  and  regardless  about  good  and  evil.  Would, 
my  brethren,  that  I  could  make  you  see  this  in  its  true  light ! 
Would  that  I  could  make  you  all  understand  and  feel,  that 


GODS    NAME:    JUSTICE    AND    MERCY.  413 

there  are  no  sins,  no  wilful  sin,  no  sin  repeated  and  per- 
severed in,  which  can  be  little  before  God !  There  is  nothing 
too  little  for  God  to  see,  nothing  so  trifling  that  God  should 
overlook  it.  His  eye  is  over  all  his  works.  Look  at  the 
smallest  leaf,  at  the  tiniest  flower,  at  the  pettiest  insect. 
Does  God  even  overlook  them?  On  the  contrary,  their 
colours  are  often  as  bright,  and  all  their  parts  are  as  delicate, 
as  finely  formed  and  nicely  put  together,  as  if  God  had  em- 
ployed all  his  care  and  wisdom  and  power  in  making  them. 
The  very  hairs  of  our  heads,  we  know,  God  does  not  over- 
look :  even  them,  we  know,  he  has  numbered.  My  brethren, 
if  God  numbers  the  hairs  of  our  heads,  be  ye  sure  that  he 
also  numbers  the  sins  of  our  souls.  Not  one  of  them  will 
be  forgotten.  Nor  deceive  yourselves  with  the  thought 
that  small  sins  cannot  be  dangerous  even  though  God  does 
take  note  of  them.  How  is  it  with  poisons  ?  Does  it  take 
a  great  quantity  to  kill  a  man  ?  A  few  grains  or  drops  of 
the  deadHer  poisons,  a  cupful  of  the  least  dangerous,  is 
enough  to  lay  us  in  the  grave.  And  so  it  is  with  sin.  Some 
sins  may  be  deadlier  and  still  more  hopeless  than  others ; 
but  any  one  sin  persisted  in  and  unrepented  of  is  enough  to 
kill  the  soul. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  the  hardened  sinner  dishonours 
God's  name,  by  robbing  him  of  his  justice  and  hatred  against 
sin,  so  does  the  despairing  sinner  dishonour  God  in  another 
way,  by  forgetting  his  mercy  and  loving-kindness.  For  if  it 
be  part  of  God's  name,  that  he  "  will  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty,"  it  is  equally  a  part  of  his  name, — yes,  and  a  dearer 
part,  a  part  which  he  values  more  highly,  a  part  which  he 
declares  to  us  more  frequently,— that  he  "  is  merciful  and 
gracious,  longsuffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  trans- 
gression and  sin  ;" — on  the  repentance — for  so  the  Gospel 
adds, — on  the  repentance  and  amendment  of  the  sinner.    If 


414  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


any  one  then  paints  God  to  himself  as  harsh  and  cruel  and 
unforgiving, — if  any  one  is  afraid  of  coming  to  God  through 
Christ  in  full  faith  and  humble  trust  of  being  received  into 
favour, — such  a  man  dishonours  God's  name  of  mercy,  just 
as  the  bold  and  hardened  sinner  dishonours  God's  name  of 
justice.  Both  Justice  and  Mercy  are  part  of  God's  name  : 
they  both  belong  to  him,  and  are  both  inseparable  from  him. 
They  are,  as  it  were,  his  right  and  left  hands ;  Justice  being 
the  left  hand,  wherewith  he  strikes  the  impenitent  down  to 
hell, — Mercy  the  right  hand,  wherewith  he  seals  the  pardon 
of  every  humble  and  contrite  soul,  and  takes  it,  and  hfts  it 
up  to  heaven. 

Therefore,  when  we  pray  that  God's  name  may  be  hal- 
lowed among  the  sons  of  men,  we  pray,  in  other  words,  that 
they  may  have  such  a  true  and  lively  sense  both  of  his 
justice  and  of  his  mercy,  as  may  lead  them  at  once  to  fear 
and  to  love  him.  We  pray  too  that  the  fear  and  the  love  of 
God  may  be  ever  present  to  men's  minds,  so  as  to  frighten 
them  from  sin,  and  win  them  over  to  God  and  goodness. 
For  this  is  the  right  use  to  make  of  the  great  things  which 
the  Bible  tells  us  of  God's  mercy  and  longsuffering,  and  of 
his  anxiety  to  save  sinners.  These  things  should  not  en- 
courage us  to  go  on  sinning,  but  rather  should  melt  us  with 
shame  for  our  past  offences,  and  make  us  deem  it  ungenerous 
and  base  to  take  advantage  of  God's  goodness,  and  persist 
in  disobeying  and  grieving  so  loving  and  merciful  a  Father. 
This,  I  say,  is  the  right  use  to  make  of  our  knowledge  that 
God's  name  is  Mercy :  and  he  who  turns  his  knowledge  to 
this  account, — he  who  is  melted  and  won  over  by  God's 
inestimable  goodness  in  sending  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  to 
bring  us  back  to  him,  that  he  would  not  offend  him  for  a 
thousand  worlds, — that  man  may  be  said  to  truly  hallow 
God's  name,  whether  he  is  uttering  it  with  his  lips  or 
no.     He  has  a  right  sense  of  God's  true  nature,  and,  to 


GODS   NAME:    JUSTICE    AND    MERCY.  415 


speak  with  St.  Peter,  has  sanctified  the  Lord  God  in  his 
heart. 

But  since  we  are  made  up  of  soul  and  body,  not  only  does 
it  behove  us  to  sanctify  and  hallow  our  Father  and  Saviour 
in  our  hearts  and  souls ;  we  must  also  hallow  him  with  our 
bodies,  and  with  outward  actions,  by  paying  him  that  tribute 
of  reverence  on  all  occasions,  which  is  due  from  a  creature 
to  its  great  Maker,  from  a  son  to  a  royal  Father,  from  a 
pardoned  sinner  to  a  forgiving  God.  Here  we  may  take  a 
lesson  from  the  account  in  St.  Luke  of  the  woman  who  was 
a  sinner.  She  was  not  content  with  feeling  love  and  rever- 
ence for  Jesus  Christ  in  her  heart ;  she  shewed  and  proved 
her  love,  by  standing  at  his  feet  behind  him,  weeping,  and 
kissing  his  feet,  and  washing  them  with  her  tears,  and  wiping 
them  with  her  long  hair,  and  anointing  them  with  precious 
ointment.  She  did  all  this,  because  she  had  been  forgiven 
much.  And  have  not  we  too  been  forgiven  much  ?  Let  us 
then  in  like  manner  shew  our  reverence  to  God,  by  paying 
him  every  outward  service  with  our  bodies  :  for  they  too,  as 
well  as  our  souls,  are  his. 

For  instance,  let  us  hallow  him  with  our  tongues  and 
voices,  by  telling  forth  all  his  praise,  especially  by  joining  in 
the  public  service  of  the  Church,  in  repeating  and  singing 
the  Psalms,  and  uttering  the  responses  aloud.  Let  us  hallow 
him  with  our  bodies,  by  kneehng  when  we  pray,  or  at  least, 
if  we  cannot  kneel,  by  standing,  instead  of  sitting  or  lolling 
irreverently,  as  too  many  are  apt  to  do  while  the  prayers  are 
offered  up  by  the  minister.  Let  us  hallow  him  in  all  our 
conversation,  by  carefully  refraining  from  all  bad  words,  from 
all  sinful  and  impure  and  unholy  talk,  and  from  everything 
which  borders  on  cursing  and  swearing, — that  boldest,  that 
most  unhallowed,  that  most  foolish  of  sins. 

Lastly,  let  us  hallow  God's  name  by  reverencing  every 
thing  belonging  to  him,  his  word,  his  day,  his  sacraments, 


41 6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

his  ministers,  his  people.  "  If  a  man  hate  his  brother,"  says 
St.  John,  "how  can  he  love  God?"  So,  if  a  man  despise 
and  mock  at  a  Christian,  how  can  he  be  said  to  hallow 
Christ  ?  •  "  Love  me,"  says  God,  "  and  love  my  people ; 
reverence  me,  and  reverence  my  people."  Yet  how  many 
men  are  there  who  would  be  surprised  and  greatly  offended 
if  they  were  told  that  they  do  not  hallow  God,  and  who 
nevertheless  are  in  the  habit  of  jeering  and  sneering  at  all 
such  persons  as  shew  what  they  deem  an  over-scrupulous 
anxiety  to  hallow  God's  name  in  everything  they  say  and 
do  !  Many  are  they  who  will  speak  scornfully  of  such  per- 
sons, especially  if  they  happen  to  make  a  slip.  How  un- 
reasonable is  this,  as  well  as  unchristian  !  No  one,  so  long 
as  he  continues  here  on  earth,  can  become  perfect  in  all  the 
graces  of  the  christian  life.  The  hill  of  godliness  is  steep 
and  slippery ;  and  hardly  any  foot  is  so  steady,  that  it  will 
not  falter  and  give  way  now  and  then,  especially  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  ascent.  If  two  brothers  were  travelling 
together,  a  long  and  toilsome  journey,  to  their  father's  home, 
and  one  of  them  were  to  stumble  or  fall  by  the  way,  would 
it  be  brotherly  in  the  other  to  laugh  at  him,  to  spit  upon  him, 
to  cry  shame  upon  him,  and  thus  to  dishearten  him  for  the 
rest  of  the  road  ?  Would  their  father  look  with  favour  on  a 
brother  who  had  behaved  in  such  a  manner  ?  Would  it  not 
be  the  part  of  a  brother  to  help  up  him  who  had  fallen,  to 
cheer  him,  and  to  give  him  an  arm  to  lean  on  until  he  had 
recovered  his  strength  ?  So  do  ye,  when  any  brother  offends. 
Comfort  him ;  help  him  out  of  his  strait ;  pray  to  God  to 
help  him,  and  to  blot  out  his  sin,  so  that  his  name  may  again 
be  hallowed  in  the  life  of  his  faithful  servant. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  meaning  of  this  great  petition, 
when  taken  in  its  full  extent  and  import.  We  pray,  that  an 
abundant  crop  of  holiness  may  spring  up  in  every  quarter  of 
the  earth.     But  while  we  pray  this  lor  others,  surely  we 


god's  name:   justice  and  mercy.  417 


ought  also  to  pray  that  it  should  spring  and  grow  up  and  ripen 
and  bear  fruit  in  our  own  bosoms.  Sanctify  the  Lord  God 
therefore  in  your  hearts ;  sanctify  him  in  your  lives ;  remem- 
bering that  it  must  be  a  mere  mockery,  every  time  you  say 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  to  beg  God  to  make  you  holy,  if  you  are 
dishallowing  and  dishonouring  him  all  the  while  by  continu- 
ing wilfully  in  sin. 


F  E 


XXXV. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER:  Third  Part. 
GOD'S  THREEFOLD  KINGDOM. 

Luke  xi.  2. 
Thy  kingdom  come. 

A  FTER  the  petition  that  God's  name  may  be  hallowed, 
"  ^  we  are  taught  to  pray  for  the  coming  of  his  kingdom. 
Now  what  is  this  kingdom,  the  coming  of  which  our  Lord  thus 
commands  us  to  ask  and  wish  for  ?  The  kingdom  of  God, 
so  far  as  we  have  any  concern  with  it  in  this  prayer, — so  far 
as  it  is  still  to  come,  and  therefore  must  be  something  dif- 
ferent from  that  rule  and  dominion  which  he  is  always  exer- 
cising over  every  part  of  his  creation, — the  kingdom  of  God, 
for  the  coming  of  which  we  are  to  pray,  is  a  threefold  king- 
dom. There  is  his  kingdom  and  authority  over  the  souls  of 
all  true  believers ;  which  we  will  call  his  spiritual  kingdom. 
There  is  his  kingdom  upon  earth,  or  his  Church ;  which  we 
will  call  his  visible  kingdom ;  because  it  is  visible  to  all  men, 
and  all  may  see  it.  Lastly,  there  is  his  heavenly  kingdom, 
which  is  to  come  after  the  resurrection,  and  to  last  for  ever. 
Now  with  each  of  these  three  kingdoms  we  have  all  a  great 
deal  to  do. 

We  have  to  do  with  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom  :  because, 
if  he  docs  not  first  reign  in  us,  he  will  never  reign  over  us, 


GOD  S    THREEFOLD    KINGDOM. 


419 


at  least  with  our  own  consent.  If  he  does  not  begin  witli 
ruling  our  hearts,  he  will  never  rule  our  actions,  except  it  h-- 
by  putting  a  bit  in  our  mouths,  and  forcing  us  to  go  this  way 
or  that,  and  to  do  his  purpose  against  our  wills.  Now,  con- 
cerning this  kingdom  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  which  1 
have  called  his  spiritual  kingdom,  there  is  a  very  remarkable 
text  in  the  17th  chapter  of  St.  Luke ;  where  our  Lord,  on 
being  asked  by  some  of  the  Pharisees,  when  the  kingdom  of 
God  would  come,  said  to  them,  "The  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation.  Neither  shall  they  say,  Lo 
here  !  or,  Lo  there !  for  behold,  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  you."  As  though  he  had  said  to  them,  "You  are 
merely  wasting  your  time  in  looking  about  for  the  kingdom 
of  God,  as  if  it  was  to  be  some  great  and  wonderful  sight, 
which  you  were  to  see  with  the  eyes  of  the  body.  Look 
within  :  look  whether  God  is  reigning  there :  look  whether 
he  is  the  master  and  owner  of  your  hearts.  If  he  is,  then 
you  may  rest  satisfied  :  for  then  his  kingdom  is  within  you." 
This  kingdom  of  God,  which  is,  or  ought  to  be,  founded  and 
established  in  the  heart  of  every  one  of  us,  is  what  I  mean, 
when  I  speak  of  his  spiritual  kingdom ;  and  surely  we  have 
all  to  do  with  that. 

But  we  have  also  to  do  with  God's  visible  kingdom,  that 
is  to  say,  with  the  Church  of  Christ.  Of  this  blessed  insti- 
tution it  would  require  the  tongue  of  a  prophet  or  an  apostle 
to  speak  worthily.  It  is  the  best  and  most  glorious  thing 
on  earth.  Our  Lord,  as  St.  Paul  tells  us,  purchased  it  with 
his  own  blood  :  he  hallowed  it  with  his  Spirit :  he  taught  it 
by  his  apostles  :  ever  since  his  death  he  has  continued  to  watch 
over  it,  and  to  keep  it  from  the  powers  of  darkness,  down  to 
the  present  day:  and  he  still  enlightens  and  guides  it  by  his 
word  and  by  his  ministers,  and  enriches  it  with  his  sacra- 
ments and  with  his  grace.  Such  is  God's  visible  kingdom, 
which  our  Lord  left  behind  him  to  serve  him,  and  to  bear 


420  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


witness  of  him  upon  earth.  This  is  the  city  set  upon  a  hill, 
which  cannot  be  hid.  It  is  the  city  of  Zion,  a  fair  place, 
and  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  in  whose  courts  God  is 
known  for  a  sure  refuge.  But,  if  this  be  God's  visible  king- 
dom, who  are  the  people  of  it  ?  We  are.  We,  and  every 
other  person  who  has  entered  into  a  covenant  with  God  and 
Christ  by  baptism,  who  acknowledges  the  truth  of  his  holy 
word,  and  professes  to  receive  Christ  as  his  Lord  and 
Saviour, — we  are  all  the  people  of  that  sacred  kingdom. 
Therefore  our  dissenting  brethren  belong  to  it  as  well  as  we. 
They,  like  ourselves,  are  baptized  into  the  faith  of  Jesus : 
they,  like  ourselves,  profess  to  take  the  Bible  for  their 
guide :  they,  like  ourselves,  own  Jesus  for  their  Lord  and 
Saviour.  Therefore  it  would  be  unjust  and  uncharitable  to 
deny  that  they  are  God's  people  as  well  as  we.  Whether 
they  act  like  his  people,  in  separating  from  their  brethren  on 
such  small  grounds  as  most  of  them  bring  against  us,  is 
another  question,  which  I  will  not  speak  of  now.  Suffice  it, 
that  whatever  the  more  violent  of  them  may  say  against  us, 
wc  return  not  railing  for  railing.  Though  they  have  gone 
away  from  us,  and  left  us,  and  so  made  a  division  in  the 
land,  let  us  still  acknowledge  them  to  be  our  brethren,  and 
gladly  allow  them  to  be  a  part  of  God's  people.  Such  is 
God's  visible  kingdom.  We  of  the  Church  of  England  form 
one  portion  of  it ;  the  Dissenters  form  another  portion  of  it; 
the  Roman  Catholics  form  a  third,  though  a  very  corrupt 
portion.  In  a  word,  wherever  Christ  is  worshipped,  wherever 
liis  sacraments  are  administered,  wherever  salvation  is 
preached  through  faith  in  him,  there  is  a  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  there  is  a  portion  of  God's  visible  king- 
dom, which,  as  David  sings  in  the  48th  Psalm,  is  appointed 
to  be  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth. 

Moreover,  we  have  also  to  do  with  God's  heavenly  king- 
dom, that  kingdom  which  is  promised  to  Christ's  faithful 


god's  threefold  kingdom.  421 

people,  that  kingdom  where  God  Ahiiighty,  after  executing 
judgment  on  the  wicked,  and  rooting  out  all  the  workers  of 
iniquity,  and  destroying  sin  and  death,  will  reign  for  ever 
over  his  obedient  children  in  a  new  world  of  righteousness 
and  glory. 

Such  is  God's  threefold  or  triple  kingdom  :  and  it  is  for 
the  coming  of  this  threefold  kingdom  that  we  are  taught  to 
pray,  by  saying,  Thy  kingdom  come.  Let  us  keep  this  well 
in  mind :  when  we  are  uttering  these  words  in  our  daily 
prayers  let  us  recollect  their  meaning,  and  remember  what 
we  are  asking  for.  Let  us  recollect  that  we  are  asking  God 
to  fix  his  spiritual  kingdom  in  our  hearts.  This  is  a  great 
petition,  and  well  worth  pondering.  Let  us  further  recol- 
lect that  we  are  asking  him  to  increase  and  enlarge  and 
strengthen  his  visible  kingdom.  Here  is  another  great 
jDCtition.  Lastly,  let  us  recollect  that  we  are  expressing  a 
wish  for  the  coming  of  his  heavenly  kingdom,  where  no  evil 
of  any  kind  will  be  allowed  to  set  foot,  and  where  only 
hohness  will  enter.  Here  is  another  wonderful  petition,  and 
perhaps  the  most  worth  pondering  of  all. 

In  the  first  place,  when  you  say.  Thy  kingdom  come,  you 
are  asking  your  heavenly  Father  to  fix  his  spiritual  kingdom 
in  your  hearts.  This,  I  said,  is  a  great  petition,  and  well 
worth  pondering.  For  just  consider  what  it  comes  to,  if 
you  take  it  in  its  full  meaning.  It  amounts  to  beseeching 
your  heavenly  Father  to  come  to  you  and  reign  in  your 
souls.  Now  do  you  really  wish  this  ?  If  not,  why  do  you 
ask  for  it  ?  But  if  you  do  wish  for  it  as  every  true  Christian 
should,  remember  it  is  not  a  sm.all  thing  you  are  asking.  It 
is  not  a  small  thing  to  invite  the  King  of  kings  to  come  in 
all  his  robes  of  holiness  and  righteousness,  to  fix  his  throne 
within  you.  What  preparation  have  you  made  to  receive  so 
great  a  visitor  ?  Have  you  done  the  little  you  can  do,  by 
sweeping  and  garnishing  the  chambers  of  your  hearts,  and 


4S2 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


trying  to  cleanse  them  from  everything  which  you  know 
would  be  offensive  in  his  sight  ?  You  would  not  ask  the 
king  of  England  to  a  dirty  house  :  nor  should  you  ask  God 
to  a  sinful  heart,  unless  it  be  that  he  may  purify  it  for  him- 
self by  the  cleansing  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  If  indeed  you  are 
conscious  how  little  you  can  do  for  yourself,  after  trying 
your  very  best, — if  by  sad  experience  you  have  been  taught 
your  own  weakness,  and  cry  to  God  from  the  bottom  of  a 
throbbing  heart,  Lord,  I  am  unclean,  cleanse  thou  my 
uncleanness, — your  God  and  Father  will  not  disdain  your 
prayers.  But  meantime  you  must  do  your  very  best.  You 
must  at  least  cleanse  the  outside  of  the  platter  ;  for  that  is 
in  your  power.  You  must  break  off  every  evil  practice, 
give  up  every  sinful  indulgence,  and  strive, — it  is  our 
Saviour's  own  word, — you  must  strive  to  do  your  duty  to 
the  utmost  of  your  present  powers  and  knowledge.  This 
is  the  way  to  have  your  prayer  for  God's  spiritual  presence 
in  your  heart  and  soul  answered  :  for  so  it  is  written  :  "  He 
that  keepeth  my  commandments,  he  loveth  me;  and  he 
that  loveth  me,  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father :  and  I  will 
love  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  to  him."  As  though  our 
Saviour  had  said,  "  If  a  man  will  really  do  his  best, — not 
that  sleepy  doing  one's  best,  which  people  talk  about,  and 
which  in  fact  is  doing  nothing, — but  if  a  man  will  do  his 
best  in  good  earnest  to  obey  God,  and  strive,  as  people 
strive  when  their  life  is  at  stake,  and  their  hearts  are  in 
their  work, — then  (says  Christ,  concerning  that  man)  I  will 
accept  his  earnest  endeavours  as  a  proof  of  love,  and  I  will 
come  to  him,  and  will  manifest  myself  to  him.  I  will  make 
liim  understand  the  beauty  and  the  excellency  of  the  perfect 
law  of  God.  I  will  enable  him  to  see  and  feel  my  good- 
ness in  dying  to  save  him.  I  will  open  the  eyes  of  his  mind 
lo  perceive  and  comprehend  that  wonderful  scheme  of 
redemption,  by  which  God's  mercy  has  free  room  given  to 


god's  threefold  kingdom.  423 


it,  without  the  sHghtest  infringement  of  his  holiness.  I  will 
show  him  all  these  truths,  and  bring  them  home  to  him." 
And  now  mark  what  follows.  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will 
keep  my  words ;  and  my  Father  will  love  him  ;  and  we  will 
come  to  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him."  The  shewing 
forth  of  Christ's  goodness  is  here  supposed  to  produce  its 
due  effect  on  the  man  who  is  truly  desirous  of  obeying  God. 
It  kindles  love  in  him.  He  begins  to  love  Christ.  As  a 
natural  consequence  of  that  love,  he  begins  to  keep  Christ's 
words,  both  by  striving  to  obey  them,  by  endeavouring  to 
do  whatever  Christ  has  commanded  him  to  do, — and  also 
by  studying  them,  and  poring  over  them,  and  trying  to  dive 
deeper  and  deeper  into  their  meaning,  that  he  may  fish  up 
the  goodly  pearls  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  all  our  Lord's 
sayings.  Thus  the  man  advances  from  obeying  God's  law 
to  loving  Christ,  and  from  loving  Christ  to  delighting  in 
his  Gospel,  until  at  last  he  becomes  godly ;  and  so  God 
loves  him,  and  comes  to  him,  and  makes  his  abode  with 
him. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  the  only  way  in  which  your  prayer 
to  your  heavenly  Father  to  come  and  establish  his  spiritual 
kingdom  within  you  can  be  fulfilled.  You  must  begin  with 
obedience,  and  persevere  in  it  until  Christ  shall  be  pleased 
to  manifest  himself  to  you.  Thence  will  spring  love,  and 
an  anxious  desire  to  please  him  ;  which  will  carry  you  on  in 
time  to  godliness.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  me  to  warn 
you  that  no  step  can  be  taken  in  all  this  to  any  good  pur- 
pose without  the  help  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  this  help  must 
be  sought  by  constant  and  diligent  prayer.  It  will  be  more 
to  the  purpose  to  remind  you  that,  after  the  first  step,  after 
the  first  snapping  of  the  chain  of  sinful  habit,  the  whole  of 
the  work  I  have  been  describing  is  gradual.  It  comes  not 
by  observation.  It  is  a  growth  :  so  that  you  must  not 
look  for  violent  or  sudden  changes  in  yourself.     Only  be 


424  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

anxious  to  be  always  moving  forward.  Remember  that  the 
waters  of  the  stream,  however  slowly  they  may  at  times 
appear  to  move,  yet  by  never  stopping  on  their  journey  are 
sure  to  reach  the  great  sea.  Let  your  progi'ess  toward 
godliness  be  like  that  of  the  gentle  stream,  which  neither 
murmurs,  nor  chafes,  nor  dashes  against  its  banks,  but  keeps 
ever  flowing  on  and  on,  until  it  has  fulfilled  the  task  which 
God  has  set  it,  and  loses  its  own  littleness  by  mingling  with 
the  mighty  waters. 

But  beside  praying  for  the  establishment  of  God's  spiritual 
kingdom  in  our  own  hearts,  we  are  also  to  pray  for  the 
increase  and  enlargement  of  his  visible  kingdom  upon 
earth :  I  mean  his  Church.  For,  though  that  kingdom  be 
already  come  in  some  degree,  it  has  hitherto  come  in  part 
only,  and  not  wholly.  Many  nations  are  still  without  the 
Gospel.  Many  parts  of  every  great  nation  are  still  without 
it.  Even  in  our  own  land,  who  can  doubt  that  there  are 
thousands  upon  thousands,  especially  in  large  towns,  who 
know  next  to  nothing  of  God  and  Christ,  thousands  who 
never  set  foot  in  a  place  of  worship,  who  never  hear  of  God 
except  in  oaths,  and  never  speak  of  him  except  to  take  his 
name  in  vain  ?  Can  the  kingdom  of  God  be  said  in  any 
just  sense  to  have  come  to  such  people  as  these?  There- 
fore we  have  still  great  reason  to  pray  that  God's  kingdom 
may  be  extended  to  the  nations  who  are  still  beyond  the 
pale  of  it,  and  also  that  it  may  be  strengthened  and  ac- 
knowledged more  and  more  in  the  countries  where  it  is 
already  established.  But  God  works  by  human  means  and 
human  hands.  Therefore,  in  praying  for  the  enlargement 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  we  are  in  fact  praying  for  God's  bless- 
ing on  the  labours  of  all  who  are  endeavouring  to  spread 
the  Gospel  among  the  heathens  and  Turks  and  Jews.  So, 
in  praying  for  the  strengthening  of  Christ's  kingdom,  we 
pray  to  God  to  prosper  all  attempts  which  may  be  made  in 


god's  threefold  kingdom.  425 

this  and  other  christian  lands,  by  preaching  and  teaching, 
by  building  churches,  by  founding  and  supporting  schools, 
by  distributing  the  word  of  God  and  other  pious  books,  to 
bring  the  ignorant  and  the  wicked  to  a  knowledge  of  their 
Lord  and  King.  Now  here  again  I  ask  you,  do  you  really 
wish  for  this  ?  Do  you  really  wish  to  see  the  day  come, 
when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  whole  earth 
with  the  same  depth  and  fullness  as  the  waters  cover  the 
sea?  so  that,  go  where  you  will,  you  shall  not  find  a  spot 
where  Christ's  authority  is  not  fully  acknowledged.  Do 
you  indeed  wish  for  this,  as  well  as  ask  for  it  ?  If  so,  you 
will  do  something  to  hasten  on  that  happy  day,  beside 
praying.  Thy  kingdom  come  is  but  three  words.  To  say  these 
three  words  night  and  morning  is  hardly  enough  for  the 
least  among  you  to  give  toward  the  bringing  about  of  so 
blessed  an  object.  You  ought  to  give  something  more,  and 
that  for  the  best  of  reasons, — because  you  can.  I  would 
therefore  advise  every  one  of  those  among  you  who  live  by 
their  own  labour,  if  he  really  has  the  coming  of  God's 
visible  kingdom  at  heart,  to  lay  by  something, — say  a  penny 
a  month, — as  an  earnest  offering  to  God,  to  shew  your  sin- 
cerity and  earnestness  in  the  good  cause.  This  will  make  a 
shilling  a  year  :  and  you  may  give  it  at  the  year's  end  to 
one  among  the  many  societies  established  in  this  land  for 
pious  purposes. 

Let  none  say  within  himself,  What  good  will  a  shilling 
do?  If  it  could  do  no  other  good,  it  would  shew  your 
goodwill :  it  would  shew  your  readiness  to  make  a  sacrifice 
for  the  sake  of  Christ's  kingdom.  For  you  who  are  poor 
can  give  nothing  in  alms,  without  feeling  it.  Those  who 
are  well  off  in  the  world,  give  out  of  their  abundance.  A 
few  shillings  more  or  less  make  little  or  no  difference  to 
them  :  they  give,  and  never  miss  them.  But  with  the  poor 
it  is  not  so.     If  a  poor  man  lays  by  a  shilling  for  godly 


426  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


purposes,  he  must  take  it  from  himself.     He  must  give  up 
some  Httle  indulgence,  he  must  stint  himself  in  something 
or  other,  before  he  can  afford  himself  the  pleasure  of  giving 
alms.     This  is  why  every  good  man  values  the  charitable 
offering  of  the  poor  so  much  :  because  theirs  is  real  giving  ; 
and  with  such  giving,  when  it  springs  from  right  motives, 
from  thankfulness  and  love  to  God,  and  good-will  to  their 
fellow-men,  the  high  and  mighty  God  is  well  pleased.    Even 
therefore  if  I  thought  that  the  shillings  of  the  poor  were 
likely  to  be  of  little  use  in  farthering  the  increase  of  God's 
kingdom,  I  would  still  say,  lay  by  your  pennies,  and  give 
your  shillings,  for  your  own  sakes,  that  you  may  enjoy  the 
satisfaction  of  laying  by,  and  the  pleasure  of  giving,  for  such 
a  purpose.     But  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  fancy  that  the  alms 
of  the  poor  cannot  tell.     Though  they  cannot  give  much, 
yet  if  they  were  all  to  give  a  little,  their  great  numbers 
would  more  than  make  up  for  the  smallness  of  their  gifts. 
Assuredly  there  are  at  least  a  million  of  persons  in  England, 
who  never  give  anything  toward  such  purposes,  and  who 
might   easily  give  a   shilling  apiece   every    year.     Now   a 
million  shillings  is  fifty  thousand  pounds.     What  might  not 
be  done  by  such  a  sum,  if  it  were  employed  in  building 
churches,   or   schools,    or  in   whatsoever  manner,  for   the 
strengthening  and  enlarging  of  God's  kingdom  ?     A  chapel 
that   would   hold   many   more   people    than    this    church, 
might  be  built  for  a  thousand  pounds  :    so  that   fifty  well- 
sized  chapels  might  be  built  every  year  out  of  these  shil- 
lings of  the  poor :   and  thus  in  a  few  years  there  would 
not  be  a  nook  in  all  England  in  which   God  had  not  a 
house. 

To  shew  what  might  be  done  by  the  poor  in  a  good 
cause,  let  me  tell  you  what  is  done  daily  in  a  bad  cause. 
You  know  who  are  the  drinkers  of  ardent  spirits.  It  is  not 
generally  the  rich,  nor,  in  England,  the  country-poor.     In 


god's  threefold  kingdom.  427 

Scotland  and  Ireland  indeed  the  case  is  different :  there, 
alas  !  the  curse  of  drinking  spirits  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
country  as  well  as  the  towns.  But  in  England  it  is  confined 
for  the  most  part  to  the  manufacturers  and  mechanics,  and 
the  rest  of  the  poorer  classes  in  the  towns.  Yet  how  much 
do  you  suppose  is  spent  daily  for  ardent  spirits  on  an 
average  throughout  these  kingdoms  ?  Fifty  thousand 
pounds  !  fifty  thousand  pounds  a-day  for  gin  !  Such  is  the 
power  of  small  sums  when  laid  out  for  evil  purposes.  So 
much  more  active  and  zealous  in  their  generation  are  the 
children  of  this  world  than  the  children  of  light.  It  seems 
a  very  great  thing  to  think  it  possible  that  the  labouring 
poor  should  in  the  course  of  a  year  give  to  God  a  sum  no 
greater  than  what  the  gin-drinkers  give  every  day  to  their 
god.  For  the  gin-drinker's  god  is  his  belly :  and  to  that 
god,  to  a  mad  and  devilish  thirst  for  strong  drink,  he  gives 
not  his  money  merely,  but  often  his  clothes,  his  peace  of 
mind,  the  decency  of  his  children,  the  comforts  of  his 
home,  and,  it  is  far  too  probable,  in  most  cases  his  im- 
mortal soul  into  the  bargain.  Such  is  the  god  of  drink. 
Did  Moloch,  who  delighted  in  human  blood,  require  more 
horrible  sacrifices?  Whereas  your  gift,  the  gift  I  am  ad- 
vising you  to  make,  if  it  were  ofi'ered  in  a  right  spirit,  in  a 
humble  love  of  God,  and  an  earnest  desire  for  the  coming 
of  his  kingdom,  would  be  attended  with  peace  and  joy ; 
and  he  who  approved  of  the  widow's  mite,  would  also  look 
with  favour  on  your  monthly  penny.  This  of  course  I  say 
only  to  those  among  you  who  earn  their  own  livelihood  by 
their  labour.  From  the  old  and  infirm  who  live  upon 
charity,  I  would  not  wish  it.  On  the  other  hand,  from 
those  whom  God  has  blessed  with  greater  plenty,  his  mercies 
surely  deserve  that  out  of  their  abundance  they  should  ofter 
more.  But  whether  you  are  richer,  or  whether  you  are 
poorer,  1  would  press  on  you  the  duty  of  setting  by  some- 


428  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

thing  every  year,  specially  for  religious  purposes,  as  a  token 
of  your  thankfulness  to  your  heavenly  Father  for  his  having 
brought  you  to  a  knowledge  of  his  will,  while  so  many 
others  are  in  darkness  and  ignorance. 

There  is  another  method  however,  beside  subscribing  to 
religious  purposes,  by  which  every  head  of  a  family  may 
bear  part  in  establishing  G(  d's  visible  kingdom  on  earth  : 
and  that  is  by  establishing  it  in  his  own  family.  If  every 
family  in  the  world  were  visibly  christian,  the  world  would 
be  christian :  and  till  every  family  in  the  world  is  visibly 
christian,  the  whole  world  cannot  be  christian,  the  kingdom 
of  God  cannot  be  fully  come.  In  famihes,  as  well  as  in 
nations,  should  the  worship  of  God  be  set  up  visibly.  So 
well  aware  of  this  were  the  heathens,  that,  in  addition  to 
their  national  or  country  gods,  they  used  also  to  have  their 
household  gods,  to  which  they  prayed  in  their  own  dwell- 
ings, and  burnt  incense  on  their  own.  hearths.  Shall  the 
heathens  give  such  heed  to  the  duty  of  consecrating  every 
family  to  some  heavenly  power  ?  and  shall  we,  who  have 
been  taught  to  know  the  true  God,  neglect  to  consecrate 
our  families  to  him  ?  Shall  they  pay  more  worship  to  their 
lalse  gods,  than  we  pay  to  the  God  of  heaven  ?  Set  up  the 
worship  of  God  and  Christ  then  visibly  in  your  famiHes.  Let 
every  house  be  a  church :  and  let  all  who  dwell  in  it  be  a 
congregation  holy  to  the  Lord.  Remember,  Christ's  promise 
is,  that,  wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  his 
name,  he  will  be  amongst  them.  Let  prayers  be  regularly 
oftered  up,  at  least  once  a  day,  in  your  assembled  family ; 
and  wherever  a  reader  can  be  found,  let  a  few  verses  of  the 
Gospel  be  read  aloud,  as  part  of  the  service.  So  will  you 
show  yourselves  to  be  desirous  of  the  coming  of  God's 
invisible  kingdom :  so  will  you  visibly  consecrate  your 
families  to  Christ,  and  enthrone  him  in  your  dwellings  as 
your  king. 


god's  threefold  kingdom.  429 


Moreover,  as  I  said  above,  in  praying  that  God's  kingdom 
may  come,  we  utter  a  wish  for  the  coming  of  his  heavenly 
kingdom :  and  this,  I  told  you,  is  perhaps  the  most  worth 
pondering  of  all  the  petitions  I  have  been  speaking  of. 
For  when  God's  heavenly  kingdom  comes,  evil  ends,  sin  is 
punished,  and  holiness  alone  survives.  Everything  but  peni- 
tence and  faith  and  love  must  be  swept  away  and  disappear, 
at  that  great  and  terrible  coming  of  our  Lord  to  judge  the 
world.  Now  do  we  really  wish  for  the  coming  of  that  great 
day?  Should  we  be  glad  to  know  it  was  to  come  to-morrow  ? 
If  an  angel  were  to  shew  himself  at  this  moment,  and  to 
bring  a  message  from  our  Lord  and  Master,  that  to-night  at 
twelve  o'clock  he  will  descend  from  heaven,  with  the  voice 
of  the  archangel,  with  the  trump  of  God,  and  that  we  are 
to  be  straightway  caught  up  into  the  clouds,  and  to  appear 
to-morrow  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  to  give  an 
account  of  our  past  lives, — if  such  a  message  were  to  be 
brought  to  us  at  this  moment,  should  we  rejoice  at  it  ?  Yet 
this,  and  nothing  short  of  this,  is  the  coming  of  God's  hea- 
venly kingdom.  I  fear,  there  are  very  very  few  men  who 
can  say  from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  that  for  themselves, 
without  thinking  of  their  neighbours,  they  would  be  truly 
and  heartily  glad  of  this.  I  am  sure,  for  one,  I  could  not 
say  it.  I  could  not  say  that  I  desire  without  a  moment's 
further  preparation  to  be  hurried  before  Christ's  tribunal. 
My  prayer  would  be  the  same  as  David's :  O  spare  me  a 
little  !  And  your  prayer,  brethren,  would  doubtless  be  the 
same.  And  it  would  not  be  a  formal,  lifeless,  dull,  unmeaning 
prayer.  You  would  begin  to  pray,  on  hearing  such  a  mes- 
sage, as  you  never  prayed  before  in  your  lives. 

But  if  this  be  so,  if  the  instant  coming  of  Christ's  heavenly 
kingdom  would  be  so  appalling  to  us,  why  are  we  taught  to 
pray  for  it?  We  are  taught  so,  to  keep  us  mindful  of  it.  A\'c 
iare  taught  so,  as  a  warning  of  what  must  happen  to  us, 


430  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

whether  we  pray  for  it  or  no.  We  are  taught  so,  as  a  lesson 
to  shew  us  what  we  ought  to  be,  and  what,  as  true  Christians, 
we  ought  to  wish  for.  For  it  is  not  the  part  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian to  be  fearful  of  his  Saviour's  coming.  If  we  did  not 
sinfully  and  shamefully  come  short  of  that  high  estate  to 
which  Christ  purposed  to  raise  his  people,  we  should  long 
for  Christ's  coming,  instead  of  dreading  it.  What  does  St. 
John  say  at  the  end  of  the  Revelation,  when  Jesus  tells 
him  that  he  will  come  quickly  ?  Does  he  shrink  from  the 
thought  ?  does  he  beg  his  Lord  to  delay  his  coming  ?  On 
the  contrary  he  says,  "  Amen  !  even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus  ! " 
that  is,  come  as  thou  hast  said  :  make  no  long  tarrying  : 
hasten  to  set  thy  servants  free  from  the  warfare  which  Satan 
is  waging  against  them.  Such  is  St.  John's  language :  and 
what  does  St.  Paul  say  ?  That  to  him  *'  to  die  is  gain  : " 
that  he  has  "  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which 
is  far  better."  (Phil.  i.  21-23.)  My  brethren,  if  we  had  the 
spirit  of  St.  John  and  St.  Paul, — and  I  know  no  reason  for 
our  not  having  it,  except  that  we  pray  less,  and  strive  less 
against  temptation,  and  have  less  faith,  and  less  love — if  we 
had  the  true  christian  spirit  which  burnt  so  brightly  in  those 
first  Christians,  we  too  should  desire  to  depart  and  to  be 
with  Christ :  we  too  should  feel  that  to  die  is  gain  :  we  too 
should  cry,  as  they  did,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly ! 


XXXVI. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER :  Fourth  Part. 
GOD'S   WILL,  NOT  OURS. 

Luke  xi.  2. 
Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  in  earth. 

T  N  my  last  sermon  I  spoke  to  you  about  the  nature  of 
■*-  God's  kingdom,  for  the  coming  of  which  our  Lord 
teaches  us  to  pray.  I  shewed  you  that  it  was  a  threefold 
kingdom.  I  explained  to  you  that,  when  we  say,  Thy 
kingdom  come,  we  pray  first  for  God's  spiritual  kingdom, 
that  it  may  be  set  up  and  established  in  our  hearts  :  secondly, 
for  his  visible  kingdom,  or  Church,  that  it  may  increase  and 
spread  until  it  fill  the  whole  earth :  and  lastly,  for  his 
heavenly  kingdom,  that  it  may  soon  drive  away  and  put  an 
end  to  every  kind  of  sin  and  sorrow,  and  leave  nothing  to 
be  seen  in  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  which 
God  will  then  create,  but  a  glorious  God,  filling  all  things 
with  his  presence,  and  ruling  with  a  father's  love  over  his 
dutiful  and  holy  children.  In  a  word,  when  we  say.  Thy 
kingdom  come,  we  pray  God  to  put  forth  his  royal  power, 
and  to  shew  himself  the  sovereign  of  all  the  earth  so  plainly 
and  openly,  that  we  and  all  the  other  sons  of  men  may,  both 
outwardly  with  our  eyes,  and  inwardly  in  our  hearts,  see  and 
feel  and  own  him  to  be  our  kin^:. 


432  THE    ALTON   SERMONS. 

But  a  king  must  have  subjects.  A  king  without  subjects 
to  obey  him,  a  king  without  a  people  to  love  and  follow 
him,  would  be  a  sorry  sight.  He  would  be  merely  the 
mockery  of  a  king,  and  no  more  a  real  one,  than  a  shadow 
is  a  Uving  man.  It  is  not  enough  therefore  that  we  call  God 
King,  and  Jesus  Lord,  unless  we  do  the  things  which  they 
command  us.  It  is  not  enough  for  God's  kingdom  to  come, 
in  fact  it  cannot  come  properly  and  as  it  ought  to  come,  it 
cannot  come  in  all  its  fullness  and  excellence,  unless  God's 
will  be  also  done.  This  however  is  so  unpleasant  to  man, 
— this  doing  God's  will  is  so  hard  and  grating  to  flesh  and 
blood,  especially  in  the  beginning'  of  our  course, — that  per- 
haps there  is  no  truth  in  the  whole  Gospel  which  we  are 
readier  and  more  anxious  to  forget,  than  this  great  one,  that 
it  is  doing  and  not  saying  only,  that  God  requires  of  us. 
The  promises  of  the  Gospel  are  great  and  glorious  ;  and  we 
are  glad  to  lay  claim  to  them.  The  forms  of  religion  may 
seem  a  little  tiresome  to  us  :  still  we  cannot  feel  comfortable 
if  we  keep  away  from  them  altogether;  and  so  we  bring 
ourselves  not  to  neglect  them.  But  the  doing  God's  will  as 
he  would  have  us, — though  this,  you  must  be  aware,  is  the 
pith  and  kernel  of  the  whole  matter, — the  doing  it  wholly 
and  thoroughly,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  the  obeying 
God  with  that  perfect  obedience  which  he  demands  of  us, — 
an  obedience  which  extends  to  all  our  words  and  thoughts, 
as  well  as  to  all  our  outward  actions, — an  obedience  which 
brings  every  power  of  our  minds,  and  every  feeling  of  our 
hearts,  and  every  member  of  our  bodies,  under  ready  sub- 
jection to  the  will  of  God — this  is  the  great  difficulty  which 
stops  so  many  in  their  christian  journey.  It  is  like  a  great 
steep  mountain  which  blocks  up  the  road  to  heaven  :  and 
some  of  us  waste  our  time  in  trying  to  find  a  path  round  it ; 
and  some  of  us  fall  asleep  at  the  foot  of  it ;  and  some  of  us 
in  despair  turn  our  backs  on  it,  and  set  our  faces  toward  the 


GOD  S   WILL,    NOT   OURS.  433 

way  of  sin  and  death  :  but  few,  very  few,  have  the  wisdom 
and  the  courage  to  say  within  ourselves,  "  The  city  of  our 
God  and  King  is  at  the  top  of  that  steep  mountain  :  unless 
I  climb  the  mountain,  I  can  never  get  there  :  so  the  sooner 
I  begin  the  better.  True,  the  mountain  does  seem  very 
steep  now  that  I  am  looking  up  it  from  the  bottom  :  but  the 
ascent  may  not  be  so  difficult  as  it  appears :  and  at  any 
rate,  in  the  strength  of  my  God  and  King,  and  through  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Bible  assures  me  I  can  do  all  things. 
Therefore  I  will  begin  to  climb  at  once."  Few  persons 
have  wisdom  and  courage  enough  to  make  up  their  minds 
to  follow  the  will  of  God  in  this  plain  straightforward 
manner.  Most  men  want  to  avoid  it  if  they  can.  Some 
would  compound  for  their  duty,  by  keeping  God's  law 
whenever  they  have  a  mind  to  it,  or  whenever  they  are  not 
particularly  tempted  to  the  contrary ;  or  perhaps  they  might 
consent  to  keep  the  greater  part  of  it,  provided  they  are 
allowed  to  indulge  now  and  then  in  some  little  darling  sin. 
But  the  trying  to  keep  the  whole  of  the  perfect  law  of  God, 
the  endeavour  to  act  up  to  all  the  heavenly  precepts 
delivered  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  this  is  so  distasteful 
to  flesh  and  blood,  we  have  need  to  be  continually  reminded 
that  God  will  not  be  satisfied  with  less.  Therefore  Christ 
has  taken  care  to  remind  us  of  it,  by  making  it  a  part  of  our 
daily  prayers.  He  has  commanded  us,  when  we  pray,  to 
say,  not  only.  Thy  kingdom  come,  but  also.  Thy  will  be 
done. 

This  indeed  is  the  petition  with  which  we  have  the  closest 
concern.  It  shews  us  what  ought  to  be  the  great  aim  and 
end  of  our  lives, — that  we  may  be  able  to  do  thfe  will  of 
God.  After  praying  to  our  Father  that  his  name  may  be 
hallowed,  and  that  his  kingdom  may  come,  we  pray  that  his 
will  may  be  done :  for  unless  his  will  be  done,  his  kingdom 
cannot   come,  his   name  cannot  be  hallowed.     Or  can  a 

F  F 


434  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

father  be  said  to  be  honoured  by  his  children,  while  they 
are  disobeying  him  ?  Can  a  king  be  said  to  reign  over  his 
subjects,  while  they  are  rebelling  against  him?  Here  I 
would  have  you  mark  our  Lord's  word.  He  does  not  bid 
us  pray  that  God's  laws  may  be  obeyed^  or  that  his  com- 
mandments may  be  kept,  but  that  his  will  may  be  done. 
Now  why  is  this  ?  Plainly,  because  the  doing  God's  will 
embraces  everything  else.  It  includes  all  obedience  and 
submission  and  patience  and  humility,  the  virtues  most 
desirable  in  a  Christian.  Besides,  by  teaching  us  to  pray 
that  God's  will  may  be  done,  or,  in  other  words,  by  teaching 
us  that  we  are  to  strive  to  make  God's  will  our  own,  which 
of  course  is  the  thing  meant,  Jesus  struck  at  the  taproot  of 
the  evil  in  our  fallen  and  corrupted  nature.  The  great 
mischief  of  the  fall  of  Adam  v/as,  that  it  burst  the  golden 
chain  which  bound  man  to  God.  Man  broke  loose  from 
God,  and  made  himself  independent  of  him,  and  left  the 
safe  and  the  straight  way  of  his  commandments,  to  walk  in 
the  hght  of  his  own  eyes,  and  after  the  devices  of  his  own 
heart.  In  short,  man  at  the  fall  set  up  his  own  will  against 
God's ;  and  so  his  will  became  corrupt  and  tainted,  as  every- 
thing must  become  when  God's  purifying  Spirit  leaves  it- 
Man  set  up  his  own  will.  This  is  the  great  disease  and  the 
main  evil  of  our  nature.  It  comes  to  us  from  our  parents  : 
it  shews  itself  soon  after  our  birth :  and  the  seeds  of  it  con- 
tinue to  lurk,  even  in  the  best  of  men,  as  long  as  they 
remain  in  the  body. 

The  disease,  I  say,  shews  itself  soon  after  our  birth.  If 
you  doubt  this,  look  at  infants.  Mark  how  violent  and 
fretful  they  become,  even  while  they  are  still  in  arms,  if  you 
do  the  least  thing  to  cross  them.  But  perhaps  you  will  say, 
"  They  are  only  babies,  and  don't  know  any  better."  Well ! 
wait  till  they  do  know  better :  wait  till  they  are  five  or  six 
years  old.     Is  the  matter  improved  then  ?    You  know  that, 


GOD  S    WILL,    NOT   OURS.  435 

generally  speaking,  it  is  not  You  know  that  your  com- 
plaint of  your  child  at  six  years  old  is  the  same  that  it  was 
at  fifteen  months:  "The  child  will  have  its  own  way." 
You  are  quite  right :  the  child  will  have  its  own  way,  un- 
less you  take  great  pains  to  teach  it  better.  And  when  it 
grows  up  to  be  a  boy,  it  will  try  to  have  its  own  way  as  a 
boy :  and  when  it  grows  up  to  be  a  man,  it  will  try  to  have 
its  own  way  as  a  man.  Nay,  at  threescore  and  ten,  if  God 
spares  its  life  so  long,  unless  its  heart  has  been  renewed 
beforehand,  we  should  still  have  the  very  same  story :  we 
should  still  see  the  old  man,  with  white  hairs  on  his  head, 
and  a  crutch  in  his  hand,  and  one  foot  in  the  grave, — if  we 
could  read  his  heart,  we  should  still  see  hiui  making  a  point 
of  having  his  owti  way. 

Another  proof  of  the  same  thing,  were  further  proof 
needful,  might  be  found  in  the  common  saying,  "  I  will  do 
it,  because  I  choose  it,"  ....  not  because  I  think  it  right, 
not  because  I  shall  do  myself  any  good  by  it,  but  because 
I  choose  it :  that  is,  because  it  is  my  will,  and  I  have  the 
power  of  doing  it,  and  nobody  shall  hinder  me.  A  more 
foolish  answer  than  this,  or  a  worse  answer,  or  an  answer 
more  unworthy  of  a  Christian,  or  even  of  a  reasonable  being, 
there  cannot  be.  Yet  I  dare  say  most  of  you  must  have 
heard  it.  I  have  myself  often  heard  it  made  by  boys.  And 
though  men,  when  they  are  grown  up,  are  mostly  too  much 
on  their  guard  to  avow  so  absurd  a  feeling,  yet  the  same 
love  of  doing  a  thing  merely  because  one  chooses  it,  with- 
out any  better  reason,  is  far  too  common  among  men  also : 
in  truth,  it  lies  at  the  bottom  of  half  the  foolish  obstinacy  in 
the  world.  But  it  is  useless  to  argue  the  matter  further.  It 
is  a  question  of  mere  fact;  every  one,  without  argument, 
may  decide  it  for  himself  by  looking  into  his  own  heart. 
Ask  yourselves.  Do  not  you  like  to  have  your  own  way, 
because  it  is  your  own  way  ?  and  that  too  even  when  some 


436  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


Other  way,  which  a  neighbour  points  out  to  you,  is  clearly 
more  for  your  good. 

Now  what  is  the  cause  of  all  this  ?  What  is  the  cause  of 
this  desire,  which  shews  itself  in  us  at  all  the  different  stages 
of  life,  from  the  earliest  down  to  the  latest  ?  What  is  the 
origin  of  this  distempered  feeling,  which  stands  us  in  stead 
of  reason,  and  which  will  often  lead  a  man  to  act  against 
his  plain  interest?  The  cause  is  that  unreasonable  and 
corrupt  self-will,  which  we  have  all  inherited  from  Adam, 
which  shews  itself  differently  in  different  men,  but  which  in 
some  way  or  other  is  sure  to  shew  itself  in  every  one  not 
thoroughly  converted. 

Having  thus  found  out  the  cause  of  the  disorder,  we  may 
more  easily  see  how  it  is  to  be  cured.  We  must  get  rid  of  that 
cause  :  we  must  root  out  that  self-will,  which  is  the  source  of 
the  whole  evil.  We  must  take  God's  will  for  our  rule  and 
guide,  and  must  endeavour  by  all  the  means  in  our  power, 
by  prayer,  by  meditation,  by  self-denial,  to  bring  our  own 
will  first  into  complete  obedience  to  God's,  and  then  to 
make  it  one  with  God's.  We  must  learn  to  look  upon  our 
wills  as  impious  and  rebellious,  because  they  set  themselves 
in  opposition  to  God.  We  must  learn  to  look  upon  them 
as  mad,  because  they  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  reason. 
We  must  learn  to  look  upon  them  as  tyrants,  because  they 
govern  us  absolutely,  w-ithout  law,  and  against  law.  This  mad, 
rebelHous,  impious  tyranny  of  the  will  must  not  be  allowed 
to  trample  on  us  any  longer.  It  must  be  overthrown  : 
which  can  only  be  done  by  setting  up  God's  will  in  its 
place.  Accordingly  this  is  the  very  remedy  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  pointed  out  to  us,  by  teaching  us  to  pray  to  our 
heavenly  Father  that  his  will,  and  not  ours,  may  be  done. 
,  Remember  then,  when  you  are  making  this  petition  to  God, 
you  are  in  fact  asking  him  to  cure  the  great  disorder  of 
your  nature,  and  to  remedy  the  evil  brought  upon  you  by 


GOD  S   WILL,    NOT   OURS.  437 

Adam's  fall.  By  that  fall  our  wills  were  cut  off  from  God's ; 
and  the  evil  and  mischief  can  never  be  done  away,  until 
they  are  joined  to  God's  will  again. 

I  said  a  while  ago  that  the  doing  God's  will  includes 
obedience,  and  submission,  and  patience,  and  several  other 
christian  graces.  At  first  perhaps,  when  we  say,  Thy  will  be 
done,  we  think  only  of  that  portion  of  God's  will  which  is  to 
be  done  by  us,  such  as  keeping  his  commandments,  and 
doing  our  duty  toward  him,  and  toward  our  neighbour.  But 
there  is  another  portion  of  God's  will,  which  must  also  be 
taken  into  account.  I  mean  that  portion  of  it  which  is  done 
toward  us,  and  which  exercises  our  patience  and  our  faith, 
as  that  portion  of  it  which  is  to  be  done  by  us,  exercises  our 
obedience  and  activity.  Most  of  us  are  ready  to  acknow- 
ledge, when  any  extraordinary  affliction  or  unforeseen  accident 
befalls  us,  that  it  comes  from  God.  In  seasons  of  sorrow,  or 
of  grievous  sickness,  nothing  is  commoner  than  to  hear  the 
sufferer  say,  "  It  is  the  will  of  God,  and  I  must  bow  to  it." 
Now  though  this  is  good  and  right,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  does 
not  go  far  enough.  It  is  like  the  fault  of  the  Syrians,  who 
said,  "  Jehovah  is  God  of  the  hills  ;  but  he  is  not  God  of  the 
valleys."  (i  Kings  xx.  28.)  So  we  are*  apt  to  speak  and  think 
of  the  Lord  our  God,  as  if  he  were  God  only  of  death,  and 
sickness,  and  the  greater  visitations  or  escapes  of  life,  but  not 
God  of  the  daily  wants  and  common  business  of  our  calling. 
The  Lord  is  God  of  the  small  things,  just  as  truly  as  he  is 
God  of  the  great  things.  He  orders  and  appoints  and  con- 
trols them  all,  as  seems  to  him  most  fitting.  If  we  were 
duly  aware  of  this,  we  should  recognise  the  voice  of  God 
and  see  his  hand  in  our  calling  and  station.  Therefore, 
instead  of  wishing  to  be  something  different  from  what  we 
are,  we  should  be  satisfied  that  he  has  placed  us  all  in  the 
stations  best  suited  to  our  characters.  We,  my  friends,  live 
here  away  from  the  world,  and  in  comparative  obscurity. 


438  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


Shall  we  repine  thereat  ?  No  :  it  was  God  who  set  us  here. 
Let  us  feel  grateful  to  him  for  having  sheltered  us  from  the 
cares  and  temptations  of  more  exposed  spots,  and  be  careful 
to  make  our  light  shine  in  a  dark  place.  Others  are  raised 
to  eminence,  or  bom  to  Hve  amid  the  bustle  of  the  world. 
Shall  they  say  within  themselves,  "We  could  serve  God 
better  somewhere  else,  with  fewer  cares  to  distract  us,  and 
fewer  temptations  to  assail  us  ?  "  No  :  they  too  must  recol- 
lect that  they  are  set  to  be  lights  upon  a  hill,  by  the  same 
hand  which  has  set  us  in  the  valley.  They  cannot  change, 
they  ought  not  to  wish  to  change  their  station,  any  more 
than  we  ought  to  wish  to  change  ours.  Let  each  endeavour 
to  do  God's  will,  by  filling  his  own  station ;  if  it  be  lowly, 
with  contentment,  if  it  be  lofty,  with  humility  :  and  the 
higher  they  are  placed,  the  more  careful  let  them  be  to  make 
their  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  their  good 
works,  and  glorify  their  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

Thus  have  I  set  before  you  the  duty  of  sacrificing  our  wills 
to  the  will  of  God,  not  merely  by  doing  his  will,  but  by 
suftering  his  will,  with  faith  and  submission  and  contentment. 
It  only  remains  for  me  to  speak  to  you  of  the  measure  and 
degree  in  which  God's  will  ought  to  be  done  by  us, — 
namely,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  The  measure  which  Christ 
lays  down  for  us  is  always  an  infinite  measure,  and  the 
pattern  is  always  a  heavenly  pattern.  As  Moses  was  com- 
manded to  make  the  tabernacle  for  the  children  of  Israel  in 
all  things  according  to  the  pattern  shewn  to  him  in  the 
mount,  so  we  too  are  to  frame  the  tabernacle  of  our  christian 
life,  and  all  things  belonging  thereto,  according  to  the 
perfect  model  of  heaven.  We  are  to  pray  and  to  strive, 
that  God's  will  may  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven.  That  is,  we  are  to  do  it,  as  the  angels  do  it,  wholly, 
readily,  cheerfully,  and  out  of  love  to  God.  We  are  to 
do  it  wholly ;  for  who  can  fancy  an  angel  leaving  any  part 


god's  will,  not  ours.  439 

of  his  errand  unperformed  ?  We  are  to  do  it  readily  :  for 
they  are  winged  messengers,  and  run  swift  as  thought  to  do 
God's  bidding.  We  are  to  do  it  cheerfully,  and  with  the 
hearts  of  angels,  which  are  the  abodes  of  joy  and  gladness. 
The  mere  doing  God's  will  is  little.  The  devils  themselves, 
we  may  be  sure,  will  be  constrained  to  go  as  far  as  that. 
Only,  while  the  angels  do  it  with  joy,  and  find  all  their 
happiness  in  doing  it,  the  evil  spirits  do  it  unwillingly,  and 
would  fain  shake  it  off  if  they  could.  So  that,  unless  we 
bring  our  hearts  to  do  God's  will  cheerfully,  we  cannot  be 
said  to  do  it  as  the  angels  do  it,  we  cannot  be  said  to  do  it 
as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  Above  all  we  must  do  it  out  of 
love  to  God,  for  his  glory,  and  not  for  our  own.  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest,  was  the  song  of  the  angels  at  our 
Saviour's  birth.  The  glory  of  God  then  is  their  great 
object ;  the  love  of  God  is  their  chief  motive.  It  is  only  by 
the  union  of  love  with  duty,  that  the  will  of  God  can  be 
done  as  it  is  in  heaven,  where  he  rules  in  the  sight  of  all, 
and  issues  his  commands  as  it  seems  good  to  his  eternal 
wisdom.  The  angels  leave  their  places  before  the  sapphire 
throne  at  God's  bidding.  They  are  his  servants,  and  run 
to  and  fro  whithersoever  he  sends  them :  and  they  go  joy- 
fully, deeming  it  a  blessing  to  be  charged  with  the  least  of 
his  commands.  Have  we  anything  of  this  feeling  about  us? 
Do  not  say  that  it  is  above  the  measure  of  earth,  that  flesh  and 
blood  cannot  know  it.  Many  a  good  soldier  has  felt  in  this 
manner  toward  a  great  and  beloved  commander  :  many  a 
loyal  subject  has  so  felt  toward  his  king.  And  is  not  God 
our  King?  Is  not  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  our  com- 
mander? Let  us  feel  toward  him  as  his  subjects  and 
soldiers,  happy  to  be  employed  by  him,  ready  to  obey  him, 
active  in  his  service,  but  at  the  same  time  prepared  to  endure 
hardships,  to  stand  still  at  our  post,  to  bear  the  taunts  and 
reproaches  of  the  enemy,  whenever  he  orders  us  to  do  so.  I 


440  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

once  read  a  story  of  a  great  captain,  who  after  a  battle  was 
talking  over  the  events  of  the  day  with  his  officers.  He 
asked  them,  who  had  done  best  that  day  ?  Some  mentioned 
one  man  who  had  fought  very  bravely,  some  another. 
"  No,"  (said  he,)  "  you  are  all  mistaken  :  the  best  man  in  the 
field  to-day  was  a  soldier,  who  had  his  arm  hfted  up  against 
an  enemy,  but  who,  on  hearing  the  trumpet  sound  a  retreat, 
checked  himself,  and  dropped  his  arm  without  striking  the 
blow.  That  perfect  and  ready  obedience  to  the  will  of  his 
general  is  the  noblest  thing  that  has  been  done  to-day."  Think 
over  this  story,  my  brethren ;  endeavour  to  obey  God  in  all 
things,  as  that  soldier  obeyed  his  general ;  and  you  will  find 
out  in  time  what  our  Saviour  meant  by  commanding  us  to 
pray  that  God's  will  may  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven. 
He  meant  what  he  himself  did.  For,  as  by  coming  down 
from  his  glory  to  take  our  nature  upon  him,  he  shewed  how 
earth  might  be  lifted  up  into  heaven,  so  by  his  activity  in 
doing,  and  by  his  meekness  in  suffering  God's  will,  he 
shewed  how  his  Father's  will  might  be  done  on  earth  as  it 
is  in  heaven.  Look  at  his  diligence  in  doing  that  will, 
which  was  so  great  that  he  had  not  time  so  much  as  to  eat : 
look  at  his  devotion  to  it,  which  made  the  doing  it  meat  and 
drink  to  him :  think  how  careful  he  was  to  set  forth  and 
exalt,  not  his  own  glory,  but  the  glory  of  him  that  sent 
him  :  call  to  mind  the  lowliness  and  patience,  and  the  readi- 
ness to  suffer  as  well  as  to  do  his  Father's  will,  which  he 
shewed  throughout  his  blessed  passion,  so  that  even  in  the 
moment  of  that  fearful  agony  the  only  cry  that  burst  from 
his  troubled  spirit  was,  "  Father,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be 
done  ! "  Such  was  the  example  he  left  us,  that  we  might 
walk  in  his  steps  both  in  our  doing  and  in  our  praying. 
Remember  therefore,  that  when  you  pray  to  God  that  his 
will  may  be  done,  you  pray  the  very  prayer  which  our  Lord 
prayed.     Remember  that,  when  you  pray  that  it  may  be 


GOD  S    WILL,    NOT    OURS.  44I 

done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven,  you  are  in  fact  pray- 
ing that  you  may  be  enabled  to  do  it  as  perfectly  as  Jesus 
Christ  did  :  for  he  came  down  from  heaven.  Take  him  for 
your  model :  and,  as  he  came  down  to  shew  you  how  God's 
will  should  be  done,  so  will  the  Holy  Ghost  come  down,  if 
you  pray  for  him,  and  enable  you  to  do  it.  So  long  as  your 
lives  are  continued  to  you,  God  will  be  with  you  on  earth  ; 
and  death  itself  will  not  separate  you.  Rather  will  it  unite 
you  to  the  Godhead  by  new  and  closer  bonds.  For  Christ 
will  then  lift  you  up,  and  take  you  to  himself,  that,  where  he 
is,  you  may  be  also,  beholding  his  glory,  partaking  in  his 
joys,  and  continuing  to  do  the  work  which  you  began  on 
earth,  continuing  to  do  God's  will,  but  without  the  hin- 
drance and  alloy  of  human  weakness  and  earthly  imperfec- 
tions, in  the  eternal  peace  of  heaven. 


XXXVII. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  :  Fifth  Part. 
DAILY  BREAD. 

Luke  xi.  3. 
Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread. 

nPHE  Lord's  Prayer,  I  have  already  told  you,  may  be 
''-  divided  into  four  chief  parts.  The  first  part  is  the  ad- 
dress, or  invocation;  in  which  we  call  upon  God  as  our 
heavenly  Father,  and  try,  as  it  were,  to  catch  his  gracious 
ear.  The  second  part  consists  of  three  petitions  to  God, — 
such  as  it  befits  loving  children  and  dutiful  subjects  to  make, 
— for  the  advancement  of  his  honour,  and  the  shewing  forth 
of  his  glory, — that  his  name  may  be  hallowed,  that  his  king- 
dom may  come,  and  that  his  will  may  be  done  as  perfectly 
and  readily  and  heartily  on  earth,  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 
Having  already  spoken  to  you  of  these  two  parts,  I  will  now 
go  on  to  the  third  part,  which  is  made  up  of  petitions  for 
the  relief  of  our  own  necessities  and  wants  both  in  body 
and  soul.  There  is  a  petition  in  it  for  food,  a  petition 
for  pardon,  a  petition  to  be  kept  out  of  temptation,  a  peti- 
tion to  be  preserved  from  evil  of  every  kind.  In  the 
present  sermon  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  the  first  of 
these,  the  petition  for  food :  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily 
bread. 


DAILY   BREAD.  443 


These  words  are  very  plain  and  simple  :  yet  what  a  depth 
of  meaning  lies  on  their  very  surface  !  How  much  may  we 
gather  from  them  !  how  much  may  we  learn  from  them  ! 
Almost  every  word  supplies  a  lesson. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  all  learn,  from  this  petition  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  to  look  on  everything  that  we  enjoy  as 
the  gift  of  God, — a  gift  we  are  humbly  to  ask  for,  as  regu- 
larly as  the  day  comes.  All,  I  say,  may  learn  this.  For  our 
Lord  makes  no  distinction  about  the  offering  up  of  this 
prayer.  He  does  not  say,  that  the  poor  are  to  make  this 
petition,  and  that  those  who  are  well  off  in  the  world  need 
not.  He  does  not  say  that  only  those  who  are  old,  or  in- 
firm, or  out  of  employment,  and  who  therefore  cannot  sup- 
port themselves,  are  to  ask  God  for  their  daily  bread.  But 
he  says  to  all, — to  rich  as  well  as  poor, — to  those  who  are 
earning  their  livelihood  by  their  labour,  or  who  are  living  on 
their  means,  just  as  much  as  to  those  who  depend  entirely 
on  others, — nobleman  and  pauper,  he  says  to  all  alike, 
"When  ye  pray,  say,  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily 
bread." 

This  may  perhaps  sound  a  hard  saying  to  the  wealthy 
and  proud  man  ;  and  he  might  easily  be  tempted  to  think 
within  himself, — "  What  need  can  there  be  for  my  asking 
God  to  give  me  my  daily  bread,  when  I  have  plenty  of 
everything  already  ?  "  But  to  such  a  man  I  would  answer, 
— If  you  have  plenty  of  everything,  who  gave  you  that 
plenty  ?  Did  not  God  give  it  you  ?  And  cannot  the  same 
God  take  it  away  from  you,  whenever  he  thinks  fit  ?  Is  he 
not  for  ever  shewing  that  he  can  make  poor,  just  as  easily 
as  he  makes  rich  ?  that  he  can  throw  a  man  down  from  a 
high  station,  just  as  suddenly  as  he  raises  him  up  to  it  ? 
This  is  not  a  matter  that  calls  for  any  great  stretch  of 
faith :  your  memory,  if  you  look  into  it,  will  prove  to  you 
that  such  is  the   case.     Are  you   a   merchant?    Call  to 


444  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

mind  how  many  merchants  and  traders  and  dealers  of  all 
kinds,  who  were  thriving  amain  a  short  lime  back,  are 
now  become  bankrupt  ?  Are  you  a  farmer  of  land,  or 
owner  of  it?  Remember  the  distress  and  dismay  that 
from  time  to  time  weighs  down  the  landholders  of  England. 
How  many  persons  who  have  passed  for  prosperous,  and 
who  perhaps  have  thought  themselves  as  firm  and  as  deeply 
rooted  as  the  trees  on  their  estates,  have  been  suddenly- 
swept  away  ?  And  may  it  not  be  so  again  ?  Who  keeps 
off  the. seasons  of  calamity,  in  which  hundreds  awake  in 
the  morning,  believing  themselves  rich  and  flourishing,  and 
by  sunset  are  brought  dov/n  to  beggary?  who  keeps  off 
such  fearful  seasons  from  sweeping  us  away  too,  as  many- 
better  men  have  been  swept  away  before?  Who,  I  ask, 
prevents  all  this,  but  God  ?  Think  of  the  cold  rainy  sum- 
mers, when  the  husbandman  sows  his  seed  in  vain.  Think 
of  the  distress  which  may  be  caused  in  a  whole  neighbour- 
hood by  the  stoppage  of  a  single  bank.  Think  of  the 
losses  which  men  so  often  meet  with  from  the  carelessness, 
the  dishonesty,  the  misfortunes  of  their  friends  and  agents : 
to  say  nothing  of  those  manifold  casualties  and  accidents 
which  so  often  come  unexpectedly  athwart  the  plans  of 
such  as  put  their  trust  in  their  own  wisdom. 

I  might  add,  that  there  is  yet  another  way  of  parting  the 
man  of  substance  and  his  possessions.  Instead  of  taking 
his  house  and  land  from  him,  Cxod  can  easily  take  him  from 
his  house  and  land.  Most  of  you  must  remember  our  Saviour's 
parable  of  the  rich  man,  who  said  within  himself,  "  Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry."  You  must  remember  too 
how  all  this  ended.  "  God  said  to  him,  Thou  fool !  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee :  then  whose  will 
those  things  be?"  For  when  a  man  dies  he  can  carry- 
nothing  away  with  him.     Death  tears  him  away  from  his 


DAILY    BREAD. 


445 


money  :  and  he  is  forced  to  leave  it  behind  him,  it  may  be 
for  a  stranger,  or  perhaps  for  a  spendthrift  to  squander. 

Since  there  are  so  many  ways  then  in  which  a  rich  man 
and  his  money  may  be  parted, — by  death,  by  losses  in  trade, 
by  bad  seasons,  by  accidents  of  divers  kinds,  by  the  mis- 
conduct or  mischances  of  others, — it  is  plain  that  the  rich 
man  is  just  as  truly  a  pensioner  on  his  heavenly  Father,  as 
the  poorest  who  lives  from  hand  to  mouth.  He  is  a  pen- 
sioner on  God  to  the  full  amount  of  his  prosperity :  and  the 
continuance  of  his  pension,  the  continuance  of  his  pros- 
perity, depends  wholly  on  God's  will.  He  had  no  claim  to 
his  wealth  at  the  first :  but  God  gave  it  to  him  of  his  own 
good  pleasure.  He  has  no  claim  or  title  to  it  now ;  but 
God  continues  it  to  him  of  the  same  good  pleasure  :  and 
whenever  God  sees  fit,  he  can  and  will  take  it  all  away. 
Surely  then,  in  proportion  as  our  money  increases,  our  feeling 
of  our  utter  dependence  on  God  ought  also  to  increase  and 
grow  stronger :  and  our  prayers  should  become  more  fre- 
quent, and  more  pressing,  that  God  will  teach  us  to  put  our 
money  to  its  right  use,  so  that  it  may  indeed  prove  a  bless- 
ing to  us  and  not  a  snare. 

But  if  even  those,  who  according  to  outward  appearance 
have  plenty  of  goods  in  store,  ought  to  pray  for  their  daily 
bread,  great  reason  have  they  to  do  the  same  who  live  by 
their  own  industry.  For  if  you  had  not  health  and  strength 
to  labour,  what  would  become  of  the  stoutest  man  amongst 
you  ?  Yet  who  gave  you  your  health  and  your  strength  ?  or 
who  keeps  you  in  the  free  use  of  it  ?  You  know,  it  is  God, 
who  preserves  you  in  health  and  strength  :  and  in  giving 
you  the  power  of  earning  your  bread,  he  gives  you  the 
bread  itself;  just  as  a  man  who  gave  you  money  to  buy 
your  food,  might  be  said  to  give  you  the  food.  So  that  all, 
whether  rich  or  poor, — whether  living  on  their  own  means, 
or  supporting  themselves  by  their  labour,  or  supported  by 


446  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


the  charity  of  others, — all  of  us  depend  upon  God  :  all  have 
equal  reason,  when  we  pray,  to  say.  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread. 

This  then  is  the  first  lesson  for  us  to  learn  from  the  text, 
the  lesson  of  our  entire  dependence  on  our  heavenly  Father 
for  all  the  good  things  of  this  life  :  and  this  is  a  lesson 
which  we  ought  to  learn  by  heart,  as  the  phrase  is.  We 
must  not  be  content  to  say,  "  Yes,  it  is  very  true,  we  do 
depend  upon  God," — and  then  think  no  more  about  it :  we 
must  try  to  gain  such  a  lively  feeling  of  this  truth,  and  so  to 
work  it  into  our  minds,  that  it  may  give  a  colour  and  cha- 
racter to  all  our  views  of  the  present  and  the  future.  This  is 
St.  James's  precept :  "  Go  to,  ye  that  say,  To-day  or  to- 
morrow we  will  go  into  such  a  city,  and  stay  there  a  year, 
and  buy  and  sell,  and  get  gain  :  whereas  ye  know  not  what 
shall  be  on  the  morrow.  Instead  whereof  ye  ought  to  say, 
If  the  Lord  will,  ye  shall  live,  and  do  this,  or  that."  That 
is,  in  all  your  plans,  in  all  your  doings,  you  ought  to  take 
God  into  account.  As  the  sailor  says  he  will  sail  on  such 
a  day,  wind  and  weather  permitting, — not  using  these  as 
words  of  course,  but  meaning  what  he  says,  and  well  knowing 
that,  if  the  weather  is  rough  and  the  wind  in  his  teeth,  he 
cannot  put  out  to  sea;  so  should  we  say  sincerely  and 
heartily  to  ourselves,  whenever  we  purpose  to  do  anything, 
"  If  God  pleases,  I  will  do  so  and  so ;  and  if  it  does  not 
please  God,  it  shall  not  please  me."  You  will  not  easily 
guess,  without  making  the  trial,  how  free  of  the  worid  and 
all  its  concerns  a  man  becomes,  by  forming  this  habit  of 
icfcrring  all  things  to  God,  and  looking  for  everything  to  his 
good  pleasure.  It  does  not  lead  us  to  sloth,  as  some  might 
lancy.  The  good  Christian  is  just  as  industrious  as  other 
men :  but  he  is  industrious  unto  God.  He  does  not  look 
for  miracles  to  be  wrought,  in  order  that  he  may  eat  the 
bread  of  idleness.     He  knows  that,  if  he  does  not  work. 


DAILY    BREAD. 


447 


neither  shall  he  eat.  He  knows  that  it  is  his  duty  to  pro- 
vide for  his  household.  Whatever  his  business  may  be,  he- 
follows  it  with  a  sober,  steady  diligence,  not  from  covetous- 
ness,  but  to  the  end  that,  after  providing  for  his  own  wants, 
and  for  those  of  his  family,  he  may  have  something  to  give 
to  him  that  needeth. 

But  perhaps  you  may  ask.  What  then  is  the  great  differ- 
ence between  the  Christian,  who  trusts  in  God,  and  the  man 
of  the  world,  who  trusts  to  himself?  seeing  that  both  of 
them  have  to  work  for  their  livelihood,  and  to  work  just  as 
hard  the  one  as  the  other :  so  that  in  this  respect  the  Chris- 
tian does  not  seem  to  have  any  advantage  over  his  ungodly 
neighbour.  True :  so  far  as  work  goes,  the  Christian  cer- 
tainly has  no  advantage.  But  in  other  things  he  has  many 
and  great  advantages.  He  is  comparatively  free  from  cares. 
"  Cast  all  your  cares  upon  God  "  (saith  St.  Peter,  i,  v.  7); 
"  for  he  careth  for  you."  The  Christian  does  so  :  and  it 
gives  him  ease  of  spirit :  while  the  worldly-minded  are  always 
labouring  under  a  heavy  load  of  thought  and  care.  You 
know  how  easy  it  is  for  a  man  to  entangle  himself  in  the 
affairs  of  this  world ;  and  how  we  are  naturally  led  on  to 
plunge  deeper  and  deeper  in  them,  almost  without  perceiv- 
ing it,  till  we  get  into  the  midst  of  so  many  troubles  and 
anxieties,  that,  like  travellers  who  have  lost  their  way  in  a 
thick  dark  wood,  we  can  see  nothing  but  the  things  close 
about  us,  and  can  hardly  catch  a  glance  of  heaven.  But 
no  evil  of  this  sort  can  befall  a  man  who  refers  all  his  plans 
to  God.  The  habit  of  doing  so  is  quite  enough  to  save  him 
from  such  a  danger.  For  while  a  man  consecrates  all  his  plans 
to  God,  and  gives  him  the  first  place  in  all  his  schemes,  and 
tries  to  keep  him  ever  before  his  eyes,  how  is  it  likely  that 
he  should  ever  lose  sight  of  him  ?  Even  if,  in  looking  after 
his  business,  he  does  lose  sight  of  God  for  a  moment,  he 
straightway  perceives  his  loss.     He  misses  the  light  and 


44S  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

comfort  of  God's  presence,  just  as  an  Indian  would  miss 
the  cheering  warmth  of  the  sun  in  one  of  our  dark  Novem- 
ber fogs.  This  leads  him  to  trace  his  steps  back  again,  out 
of  the  thick  wood  of  business,  into  the  free  sunshine  of 
God's  presence.  Instead  of  giving  up  his  God  for  his  busi- 
ness, he  narrows  his  business,  that  it  may  not  withdraw  him 
from  his  God. 

In  this  too  he  takes  a  lesson  from  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
For  inasmuch  as  the  danger  of  forgetting  God  under  the 
stress  of  worldly  business,  if  we  plunge  into  it  blindfold,  is 
very  great,  and  the  punishment  denounced  against  us,  if  we 
do  forget  God,  is  very  terrible  and  certain,  our  Saviour, 
beside  this  general  security  arising  from  the  habit  of  re- 
ferring all  things  to  God,  has  furnished  us  in  the  text  with 
another  security,  by  teaching  us  what  we  are  to  pray,  and 
accordingly  what  we  are  to  wish  for.  We  are  not  to  pray 
for  a  great  heap  of  riches,  for  a  great  mountain  of  pros- 
perity, to  be  thrown  upon  us  all  at  once ;  for  perchance 
the  mountain  might  bury  us  under  its  weight :  but  we  are 
to  pray  merely  for  our  daily  bread.  Not  only  are  we  to 
bear  in  mind  that  we  are  wholly  dependent  upon  God  :  we 
must  not  even  wish  it  to  be  otherwise.  We  should  be  con- 
tent to  be  fed  by  his  ordinary  providence,  just  as  Elijah 
was  fed  by  the  ravens,  that  brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in 
the  morning,  and  bread  and  flesh  in  the  evening ;  or  just  as 
the  children  of  Israel  were  fed  in  the  wilderness  by  the 
manna,  which  was  given  them  from  day  to  day.  Such  is 
the  spirit  which  Christ  would  foster  in  us,  a  spirit  of  such 
complete  trust,  of  such  heavenly  freedom  from  all  anxiety, 
that,  as  long  as  God  supplies  our  present  wants,  we  are  to 
rely  on  him  for  all  beyond,  and  not  to  trouble  him  with 
so  much  as  a  i)rayer  about  the  future,  so  far  as  concerns 
this  world's  goods.  When  we  pray  for  heavenly  blessings, 
for  the  coming  of  God's  kingdom,  lor  the  doing  of  God's 


DAILY   BREAD. 


449 


will,  we  are  to  pray  without  stint  or  limit :  when  we  pray 
for  the  goods  of  this  world,  we  are  to  ask  for  our  daily 
bread.  Were  Christians  really  and  truly  animated  by  a 
spirit  of  this  kind,  it  would  be  just  as  impossible  for  them 
to  lose  themselves  in  the  cares  of  this  world  as  for  a  traveller 
to  lose  himself  under  a  single  tree.  In  a  wood  of  trees  he 
may  lose  himself;  and  so  may  the  Christian  lose  himself  in 
a  wood  of  business :  therefore  Christ,  to  save  us  from  this 
danger,  warns  us  in  his  prayer  to  keep  out  of  the  wood,  and 
to  be  content  with  the  shelter  of  the  single  tree. 

Observe,  too,  what  it  is  we  are  to  pray  for.  Not  for  deli- 
cate food,  or  fine  clothes,  or  a  large  house  :  no,  we  are  to 
ask  for  bread.  Now  what  are  we  to  understand  by  this  word 
bread?  Surely  not  a  crust  of  bread  alone.  For  this  plain 
reason, — that  there  are  other  things  as  needful  for  our 
bodies  as  bread  itself  What  should  we  do  without  clothes 
to  cover  us,  or  a  roof  to  put  our  heads  under  at  night  ?  We 
may  be  sure  that  our  Saviour  did  not  mean  us  to  disregard 
such  things  as  these.  Therefore,  when  he  tells  us  to  pray  for 
bread,  we  may  reasonably  understand  that  petition  as  includ- 
ing all  things  which  are  really  needful  for  our  bodies. 
Accordingly  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  Timothy  writes  as 
follows  :  ''  Having  food  and  raiment  let  us  be  content. 
But  they  that  will  be  rich,"  (they  that  are  greedy  of  riches 
and  strive  to  get  rich,)  "  fall  into  temptation  and  a  snare. 
For  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil :  which  while 
some  coveted  after,  they  have  erred  from  the  faith,  and 
pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sorrows."  Mark 
the  apostle's  words :  people  who  are  anxious  to  grow 
rich  pierce  themselves  through  with  many  sorrows.  Our 
Lord,  you  may  remember,  compares  the  cares  of  this  world 
to  thorns.  Like  thorns,  they  pierce  and  wound  and  tear, 
the  hearts  of  those  who  lay  up  their  treasure  on  earth. 
Would  you  escape  these  wounds  ?    Shun  the  thorns.    Keep 

G  G 


45 O  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

yourself  free  and  far  off  from  worldly  cares.  Lay  up  your 
treasures,  lay  up  your  hearts  in  heaven.  According  to  the 
letter  of  the  apostle's  precept,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the 
text,  having  received  your  daily  bread  from  God,  having 
received  food  and  raiment  from  him,  and  such  other  things 
as  are  necessary  for  the  life  and  health  of  the  body,  there- 
with be  content. 

Now  how  many  are  there  in  every  country  who  have 
received  far  more  from  God  than  this  !  How  many  by  his 
gracious  gift  are  not  only  enjoying  the  necessaries  of  life, 
but  a  number  of  comforts  and  conveniences  !  Nay,  there  is 
hardly  a  poor  person  in  these  parts  of  England  who  does 
not  get  what  our  great-grandfathers  would  have  deemed  to 
be  luxuries.  I  will  mention  two  of  these, — tea  and  wheaten 
bread.  If  any  one  a  hundred  years  ago  had  foretold  that 
the  time  would  come,  when  every  cottage  in  England  would 
have  its  teapot  and  its  loaf  of  wheaten  bread,  he  would  have 
been  laughed  at  as  a  foolish  dreamer.  Yet  that  time  is 
come.  Whether  the  people  of  England  have  bettered  their 
condition  by  eating  wheaten  bread  and  drinking  tea,  instead 
of  eating  barley  bread  and  drinking  beer,  as  your  great- 
grandfathers are  said  to  have  done,  is  another  question.  I 
only  mention  the  change,  to  show  you  that  even  the  poorest 
folks  in  the  land  nowadays  enjoy  what  our  forefathers  used 
to  look  upon  as  luxuries.  Nay,  the  bread  which  our  Saviour 
himself  ate,  the  bread  which  he  taught  his  disciples  to  pray 
lor,  was  not  made  of  wheat,  but  rye. 

Without  saying  more  however  on  this  point,  thus  much  is 
plain, — that  very  many  persons  in  the  land  have  received 
the  good  things  of  this  life  from  the  hands  of  their  heavenly 
Father  in  plentiful  abundance.  What  then  ought  they,  or 
what  ought  we, — for  I  too  am  one  of  those  who  are  thus 
bountifully  provided  for, — what  ought  we  to  do  ?  If  we  did 
as  we  ought,  we  should  never  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer,  with- 


DAILY    BREAD. 


451 


out  a  feeling  of  thankfulness  for  having  received  so  much 
more  than  our  daily  bread  :  and  a  blush  of  shame  ought  to 
come  over  us  at  the  sound  of  the  word  bread,  when  we 
remember  all  that  God  has  given  to  us,  and  the  little  grati- 
tude we  have  shewn  to  him  in  return.  Moreover  we  should 
not  allow  our  abundance  to  swell  and  lift  up  our  souls,  and 
make  us  highminded,  but  should  ever  fear,  remembering  that 
the  hand  which  has  given  us  everything,  can  also  take  every- 
thing away.  We  too,  more  than  all  others,  should  feel  our- 
selves bound  to  take  no  thought  for  the  morrow.  Seeing 
that  God  has  already  provided  thus  richly  for  us,  we  should 
trust  wholly  in  that  bounty,  of  which  we  have  already  had 
such  experience.  Above  all  should  we  beware  lest  we  let 
our  souls  be  weighed  down  to  the  earth  by  the  blessings 
vouchsafed  to  us.  To  that  end  we  should  ever  bear  in 
mind  that  they  are  not  our  own,  but  God's,  that  our  wealth 
is  merely  a  loan  with  which  we  have  been  entrusted  for  the 
good  of  our  brethren,  and  that,  if  we  turn  it  away  from  its 
real  purpose,  to  the  pampering  of  our  own  appetites,  we 
shall  have  a  fearful  account  to  render  of  the  manner  in 
which  we  have  misused  our  stewardship. 

But  I  said  above,  that  God  not  only  gives  the  rich  man 
his  riches ;  he  also  gives  the  poor  man  the  means  whereby 
he  earns  his  bread.  If  any  of  you  are  skilled  in  any  craft, 
it  is  God  who  gave  you  your  skill.  If  any  of  you  are  strong 
to  labour,  God  gave  you  your  strength.  But  he  has  not 
given  it  to  you  in  fee  :  you  have  no  lasting  right  to  it :  you 
have  not  even  a  lease  from  year  to  year,  nor  from  month  to 
month,  nor  so  much  as  from  week  to  week :  he  only  gives  it  to 
you  from  day  to  day  :  and  there  is  no  day,  there  is  no  minute 
of  any  day,  when  he  may  not  take  it  away  from  you,  if  he  pleases. 
If  you  live  by  the  sight  of  your  eyes,  he  may  throw  a  curtain 
of  darkness  over  your  eyes.  If  you  live  by  the  work  of 
youi  hands  and  legs,  a  stroke  ol  palsy  may  take  away  the  use 


452  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

of  them,  and  turn  you  into  a  helpless  cripple.     All  of  you 

then  have  reason  to  be  lowly-minded,  to  beware  of  priding 

yourselves,  whether  on  your  cleverness,  or  on  your  strength, 

or  on  your  health.     All  of  you  should  ever  bear  in  mind, 

that  what  God  has  graciously  given  you  for  the  purpose  of 

supporting  yourselves  and  your  families,  must  not  be  wasted 

in  idleness  and  sloth,  or  in  rioting  and  drunkenness :  you 

should  bear  in  mind,  that  you  too  will  have  to  give  account 

for  the  use  of  the  talents  which  have  been  entrusted  to  you. 

Every  day  God  gives  you  his  gift  anew.     Every  day  then 

ought  you  to  make  him  some  return  for  that  gift.    Every  day 

ought  you  to  lay  up  something  or  other  in  that  heavenly 

treasury,  where  God,  for  the  sake  of  his  blessed  Son,  allows 

you  to  lay  up  treasures  which  pass  not  away  with  the  day, 

but  will  outlast  the  earth  itself     Every  day  too  ought  you 

to  bless  God  for  the  new  gift  he  has  vouchsafed  to  bestow 

on  you  :  and  when  he  thinks  fit  to  take  it  away,  you  should 

remember  that  what  he  takes  away  is  not  yours,  but  his ;  so 

that  you  can  have  no  plea  to  murmur  or  repine,  seeing  it  is 

only  of  God's  great  bounty  that  he  has  let  you  keep  it  so 

long.     Thus  everything  we  have,  whether  it  be  riches,  or 

skill,  or  strength,  or  health,  becomes  precious,  because  it  is 

the  gift  of  God,  a  gift  too  which  God  has  given  us  to  be 

employed  in  his  service,  in  laying  up  treasures  in  heaven. 

Therefore  it  must  not  be  abused,  by  being  turned  to  unholy 

purposes,  to  the  feeding  of  our  carnal  appetites,  or  to  the 

laying  up  of  treasures  in  hell.     If  your  father  gave  you  a 

very  precious  gift,   you  would  not  go  and  fling  it  before 

swine  :  yet,  though  every  gift  of  God  is  more  precious  than 

any  pearls,  too  many  rush  with  theirs  to  the  alehouse  or  the 

ginshop,  or  some  other  of  the  devil's  styes,  and  make  all 

haste  to  throw  it  to  the  swine  to  trample  under  foot.     Be 

not  so  unwise,  brethren  :  throw  not  your  pearls  before  swine : 

liirow  not  those  precious  pearls,  your  health  and  your  strength, 


DAILY    BREAD. 


453 


— throw  not  your  money,  which,  if  you  have  more  than  you 
need,  you  may  employ  in  the  blessed  work  of  relieving  the 
wants  of  your  brethren, — throw  not  pearls  of  such  price  before 
any  of  those  foul  swine, — gluttony  and  drunkenness,  and 
the  other  lusts  of  the  flesh. 

Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  petition  for  our  daily  bread 
which  we  are  taught  to  offer  up  in  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  and 
such  are  the  lessons  it  ought  to  teach  us.  The  use  of  that 
prayer,  I  need  hardly  remark,  is  not  to  hinder  us  from  using 
other  prayers.  As  we  are  taught  in  Scripture  in  everything 
to  make  our  desires  known  to  God,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  we  may  innocently  pray  for  many  worldly  goods, 
beside  our  daily  bread.  The  farmer  for  instance  may  and 
ought  to  pray  for  God's  blessing  on  his  crops,  that  the  land 
may  yield  him  its  increase.  So  too  the  merchant  may  and 
ought  to  pray  to  God  to  bless  his  merchandise ;  and  the 
tradesman  should  pray  to  him  to  bless  his  trade.  In  short, 
every  one  of  us,  be  our  station  and  business  what  it  may,  is 
warranted  by  Scripture  to  recommend  his  plans  and  wishes 
to  the  care  and  protection  of  his  heavenly  Father.  Only 
every  petition  of  this  kind  must  be  ofiered  up  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  that  is,  with  great  thankfulness  to 
Almighty  God  for  having  hitherto  given  us  so  much  more 
than  our  daily  bread,  with  great  trust  in  his  mercy,  that  he 
will  continue  to  give  us  what  he  knows  to  be  best  for  us,  and 
with  perfect  resignation  to  his  will,  in  the  assurance  that, 
when  he  does  not  grant  our  petition,  it  is  only  for  one  of 
two  reasons,  either  because  we  have  asked  amiss,  or  because 
the  thing  we  asked  for  would  on  the  whole  have  done  us 
harm,  instead  of  good.  He  who  prays  for  any  earthly 
blessing  in  such  a  temper  as  this,  prays  for  it  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer ;  and  his  prayer  will  be  blessed  to  him, 
whether  God  grants  it  or  refuses  it.  Remember  then  that 
we  are  authorised  and  encouraged,  and  commanded  too,  in 


454 


THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


Scripture,  to  make  our  wants  known  to  God.  But  one 
man's  wants  are  not  another  man's  wants  :  therefore  each  of 
us  must  present  his  own  wants  to  God  in  his  own  private 
prayers.  Christ  in  his  prayer  has  only  mentioned  the  one 
bodily  want  which  all  mankind  have  in  common,  bread,  or 
food.  In  very  hot  countries  the  inhabitants  need  little 
clothing  :  in  dry  and  warm  climates  the  people  can  live  and 
sleep  in  the  open  air  a  great  part  of  the  year  without  hurt. 
Nay,  our  Lord  himself  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  In 
no  country  does  a  person  need  new  clothes  or  a  new  house 
every  day  in  the  year.  Jesus  Christ  therefore,  in  this  his 
prayer  which  he  meant  for  the  daily  use  of  people  of  all 
climates  and  countries,  says  nothing  about  clothes  or 
houses.  But  there  is  one  thing  which  everybody  in  every 
country  has  need  of  every  day ;  and  for  this  one  thing  we 
are  taught  to  ask. 

On  the  whole  then,  calling  to  mind  how  often  in  Scrip- 
ture our  christian  life  is  compared  to  a  journey  and  to  a 
warfare,  we  shall  not  do  ill  in  likening  ourselves  to  soldiers 
on  active  service,  who  must  not  think  of  houses,  but  must 
be  satisfied  to  sleep  in  tents,  or  even  under  the  naked  sky, 
when  occasion  calls  for  it ;  and  who,  when  they  have  got 
their  clothes,  must  take  care  of  them,  and  not  think  of  new 
ones,  till  those  they  have  are  worn  out.  But  their  daily 
rations,  their  daily  food,  they  may  expect  and  ask  for ;  be- 
cause without  it  they  would  be  unable  to  bear  up  against 
the  toils  of  war,  and  would  faint  and  fall  by  the  way.  Thus 
we  too,  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  may  humbly  ask  our 
heavenly  Father  and  our  Commander  to  give  us  each  our 
daily  bread ;  because  without  it  our  strength  would  droop, 
and  our  life  would  wither  away,  before  we  had  finished  the 
task  which  our  God  and  Saviour  has  given  us  to  do.  There- 
fore, in  praying  for  our  daily  bread  we  are  in  fact  praying 
for  life,  and  for  such  a  portion  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  as 


DAILY    BREAD.  455 


may  support  us  through  another  day  of  the  dangerous  march 
toward  the  city  of  our  Captain  in  heaven  :  we  are  praying 
that  we  may  have  all  that  is  needful  for  us,  in  order  that  we 
may  fight  our  way  thither,  until  we  are  allowed  to  join  our 
Lord,  and  to  be  with  him  for  ever. 


XXXVIII. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER :  Sixth  Part. 
FORGIVENESS. 

Luke  xi.  4. 

And  forgive  us  our  sins ;  for  we  also  forgive  every  one  that 
is  indebted  to  us. 

T  ENDED  my  last  sermon  by  reminding  you  of  the  com- 
"*-  parisons  so  common  in  the  Bible,  in  which  our  life  is 
likened  to  a  journey  and  to  a  warfare  ;  and  I  told  you,  that, 
in  praying  to  God  for  our  daily  bread,  we  are  in  fact  praying 
to  him  for  what  is  needful  in  order  that  we  may  have  strength 
to  reach  the  end  of  our  journey,  and  to  fight  our  way 
through  all  the  hindrances  that  beset  us,  to  the  city  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour.  But  suppose  a  man  to  be  a  wayfarer, 
whether  a  soldier  or  a  traveller,  what  is  the  thing  which 
above  all  others  would  encumber  and  fatigue  him  on  his 
march  ?  Assuredly  a  heavy  weight,  a  great  pack  or  load  to 
carry,  would  be  more  against  a  man  in  a  long  journey  than 
anything  else  one  could  mention.  Many  of  you  can  lift  a 
sack  of  wheat,  and  can  carry  it  some  little  way.  But  think 
of  being  condemned  to  walk  from  here  to  Devizes,  or  rather 
from  here  to  Bath,  with  a  sack  of  wheat  on  your  shoulder 
every  day  for  a  month  together.  How  soon  would  the 
stoutest  man  among  you  break  down  under  such  a  load ! 


FORGIVENESS.  457 


He  might  contrive  to  stagger  on  a  little  way :  but  his 
strength  before  long  would  fail  him  ;  and  if  he  did  not  drop 
his  load  it  would  crush  him.  Now  sin, — when  a  man  is  in 
his  right  senses,  when  he  knows  whither  he  ought  to  be 
going, — is  a  weight  on  the  soul,  and  presses  it  down,  just  as 
a  weight  on  the  back  presses  down  the  body.  Many  of  you 
must  have  read  or  heard  of  poor  Christian  in  the  *'  Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  how,  after  he  had  read  awhile  in  a  book  given 
him  by  one  Evangelist,  that  is,  after  he  had  studied  the  word 
of  God,  he  felt  a  burthen  on  his  back  so  heavy  that  almost 
bowed  him  to  the  earth.  That  burthen  is  an  allegory  to 
express  the  painful  weight  of  sin,  which  is  indeed  a  burthen 
to  the  awakened  conscience,  yea,  a  sore  burthen  too  heavy 
for  it  to  bear.  When  thus  overweighted  with  the  sense  of 
guilt,  how  can  the  christian  warrior  march  forward  ?  Nay, 
under  such  a  load,  how  can  he  act  the  soldier  in  the  field  ? 
A  man  who  fights,  needs  to  be  nimble  and  strong,  and 
should  have  all  his  limbs  free  and  unshackled.  He  must 
not  go  into  battle  tottering  under  a  load  :  else  a  slight 
thrust  will  push  him  over,  a  slip  will  lay  him  on  the 
ground. 

Therefore  our  Lord,  after  teaching  us  to  ask  for  food,  to 
support  through  the  toil  of  our  daily  christian  march,  and 
to  carry  us  through  the  hardships  of  our  daily  christian  war- 
fare, bad  us  ask  for  the  pardon  of  our  sins  ;  because,  unless 
we  are  pardoned,  we  can  neither  fight  nor  march  to  good 
purpose.  This  is  the  second  petition  in  that  part  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  which  we  are  now  considering,  the  second 
petition  which  our  Lord  commands  us  to  offer  up  for  our- 
selves :  "  Forgive  us  our  sins ;  for  we  also  forgive  every  one 
that  is  indebted  to  us." 

While  a  sense  of  guilt  is  lying  heavy  on  a  man,  I  said,  he 
cannot,  at  least  he  will  not,  serve  God  to  good  purpose.  He 
will  not  move  forward  on  the  road  to  heaven  :  he  will  not  stand 


458  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

his  ground  against  temptation.  The  children  of  this  world  in- 
deed tell  a  different  story.  According  to  them  the  forgiveness 
of  sins  so  freely  offered  to  sinners  in  the  New  Testament  only 
encourages  men  to  sin  on.  And  so  it  may  some.  There  may 
be,  and  I  fear  there  are,  persons  so  wretched  and  so  foolish, 
as  to  abuse  the  blessed  doctrine  of  forgiveness  through  the 
blood  of  Christ,  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  and  their  own  ruin. 
There  may  be,  and  I  fear  there  are,  persons  who  think  to 
take  advantage  of  God's  mercy,  and  put  off  repenting  year 
after  year,  saying  to  themselves,  "  We  shall  have  time  to 
repent  by-and-by."  Thus  they  go  on,  until  God's  judg- 
ment falls  on  them,  and  death  overtakes  them  with  all  their 
sins  unrepented  of,  and  gives  them  over  to  judgment  and 
to  hell.  What  spirit  can  such  persons  be  possessed  by  !  Do 
they  fancy  that  they  can  cheat  God  ?  Cannot  they  hear  the 
voice  of  Scripture,  which  plainly  declares  that  man  cannot 
repent  at  will?  Does  not  the  Bible  say  plainly  to  men  01 
this  stamp, — "  Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin,  or  the 
leopard  his  spots  ?  then  may  ye  also  do  good,  that  are 
accustomed  to  do  evil."  (Jerem.  xiii.  23.)  Does  not  our 
own  experience  too  shew  the  truth  of  this  ?  Is  it  not  the 
rarest  of  all  things,  to  see  a  man,  who  has  spent  his  life  in 
sin  and  in  forgetfulness  of  God,  turn  to  God  in  good 
earnest  in  old  age  ?  You  must  have  known  many  old 
people,  some,  I  hope,  religious,  and  some,  I  am  afraid, 
irreligious.  Now  of  those  who  really  and  truly  died  in  the 
fear  and  love  of  God,  after  spending  their  latter  days  in  his 
service,  how  many  were  converted  and  began  to  turn  to 
God  after  they  became  old  ?  Do  you  know  three  such  ? 
If  you  do,  you  know  a  great  number.  But  I  feel  almost 
certain  you  can  none  of  you  recollect  so  much  as  three  old 
persons,  who  died  a  godly  death,  after  having  lived  ungodly 
till  they  grew  old.  If  this  be  so,  is  it  not  a  folly  and  a 
madness   deserving   stripes, — alas !    what    has   a  christian 


FORGIVENESS.  459 


minister  to  do  with  stripes  ? — let  me  rather  say,  deserving  our 
pity  and  our  prayers, — is  it  not  a  sad,  pitiable  folly,  brethren, 
for  a  man  to  stake  his  soul  on  this  desperate  chance  of  a  late 
repentance,  after  a  life  of  sin  and  ungodliness  ? 

But,  though  the  doctrine  of  free  forgiveness  to  all  who 
sue  to  God  for  mercy  through  the  blood  of  Christ  may  be 
thus  perverted  and  abused,  it  is  still  a  blessed  and  a  holy 
doctrine,  and  is  well  fitted  to  make  men  holy.  Were  men 
no  better  than  beasts  or  devils,  it  might  encourage  them  to 
sin.  But  considering  what  the  true  nature  of  man  is, — that 
he  has  a  conscience  to  be  aroused,  and  feelings  to  be 
touched,  and  affections  to  be  won, — this  doctrine  of  forgive- 
ness ought  to  lead  him,  and  does  lead  many,  to  God. 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain,  than  that  sin  cuts  man  off 
from  God,  and  raises  a  bar  which  keeps  him  away.  The 
Scripture  compares  it  to  a  chain,  which  binds  a  man  and 
holds  him  prisoner.  Would  you  set  the  man  free  ?  You 
must  break  the  chain :  and  that  can  only  be  done  by  ior- 
giveness.  If  you  ask  me  how  sin  is  a  chain,  I  answer,  it  is 
like  a  chain,  because  it  hangs  about  a  man,  and  clogs  him, 
and  hinders  him  from  seeking  God.  None  of  us  like  to  go 
to  a  person,  to  whom  we  know  we  have  given  just  cause  of 
offence.  The  sight  of  such  a  person  is  irksome  to  us  :  we 
feel  awkward  and  ill  at  ease  in  his  company  :  we  stay  away 
from  him  as  much  as  we  can :  if  we  are  forced  to  go  to  him, 
we  feel  it  a  relief  to  get  away  again.  So  it  is  between  man 
and  man  :  so  too  is  it  between  man  and  God.  While  we 
believe  God  to  be  offended  with  us,  while  our  consciences 
tell  us  that  we  are  at  variance  with  him,  we  cannot  be  at 
ease  in  his  presence.  We  dare  not  think  of  him  :  we  dare 
not  pray  to  him :  we  get  away  from  him  as  far  as  we  can. 
This  is  no  new  effect  of  sin  :  it  has  been  so  from  the  begin- 
ning. After  Adam  and  Eve  had  committed  the  first  sin,  by 
eating  the  forbidden  truit,  we  read,  that  they  heard   the 


460  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden.  Now  mark 
what  follows:  "And  Adam  and  his  wife  hid  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  God  amongst  the  trees  of 
the  garden.  And  the  Lord  God  called  to  Adam,  and  said 
to  him,  Where  art  thou  ?  And  Adam  said,  I  heard  thy 
voice  in  the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was  naked ; 
and  I  hid  myself."  Naked  he  was  indeed,  with  the  worst 
of  nakedness  :  his  soul  was  naked :  it  was  lying  bare  and 
open  with  the  black  stain  of  sin  upon  it :  and  Adam  felt 
that  it  was  so.  This  was  the  nakedness  he  was  afraid  of. 
He  could  not  bear  to  feel  the  eye  of  God  looking  on  that 
dark  spot ;  so  he  went  and  hid  himself.  And  do  not 
sinners  in  the  present  day  just  the  same?  Do  they  not 
try  to  hide  themselves  from  God  in  business,  in  pleasure,  in 
revellings,  in  idle  company  ?  Do  they  not  try  all  means  in 
their  power  to  fly  from  their  own  thoughts,  and  from  their 
own  conscience  ?  Do  they  not  hate  and  dread  serious  self- 
examination  above  all  things?  because  they  know  that  in 
such  moments  God  causes  his  presence  to  be  felt ;  and  they 
are  afraid  to  feel  that  God  is  looking  on  them.  They 
cannot  bear  to  tear  the  rag  off  from  their  festering  sins : 
they  cannot  bear  the  torture  of  probing  their  hearts  :  they 
cannot  abide  the  shame  of  seeing  and  knowing  how  bad 
their  condition  is.  So  they  turn  away  from  all  serious 
thoughts  of  God  in  private,  and  from  all  serious  talk  about 
him  with  their  neighbours.  They  shun  all  self-examination, 
and  shut  their  eyes  to  their  danger,  with  the  desperate 
cowardice  of  a  ruined  man,  who  will  not  face  a  creditor, 
nor  look  into  a  bill,  nor  cast  up  an  account-book.  How 
must  this  end  ?  How  does  it  always  end  with  those  who 
dare  not  face  their  earthly  creditors  ?  Common  sense  and 
experience  tell  us  :  sooner  or  later  in  utter  ruin.  How 
then  must  such  a  course  end  with  those  who  have  God 
Almighty  for  their  creditor  ?    Reason  and  conscience  unite 


FORGIVENESS.  46 1 


to  tell  US  :  sooner  or  later  in  utter  ruin.  The  man  who  will 
not  look  into  the  state  of  his  affairs  in  this  world,  must  be 
ruined  in  this  world :  the  man  who  will  not  look  into  the 
state  of  his  soul,  must  be  ruined  for  ever. 

Here  are  two  sad  truths  plainly  made  out,  that  the 
consciousness  of  being  sinners  keeps  men  away  from  God, 
and  that,  in  keeping  away  from  God,  we  keep  away  from 
happiness  :  in  turning  from  him,  we  rush  into  ruin.  How  was 
this  evil  to  be  remedied  ?  Looking  at  it  with  the  eyes  of  a 
man,  one  should  have  said,  there  was  no  way.  For  the 
more  men  became  sinners,  the  more  need  they  had  of  God  : 
yet  the  more  they  became  sinners,  the  more  afraid  they 
were  of  coming  to  him.  But  God  seeth  not  as  man  seeth  ; 
in  the  depths  of  his  merciful  wisdom  he  discovered  a  remedy 
for  the  evil.  That  remedy  in  one  word  is  forgiveness.  He 
has  come  to  us  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  and  has  called  to 
us  in  the  midst  of  our  sinful  courses,  saying,  "  Why  will  ye 
die  ?  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth. 
Only  turn  to  me,  and  ye  shall  live."  Return  to  the  Lord, 
and  he  will  have  mercy  upon  you  :  return  to  our  God,  for 
he  will  abundantly  pardon  you.  This  is  the  plan  which  our 
Father  had  devised  for  melting  the  stubborn  naughtiness  of 
men's  hearts.  He  has  begun  with  offering  them  forgiveness. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  that  one  offer  wholly  changes  the  state 
of  the  question.  A  God  who  offers  us  forgiveness  is  no 
longer  a  terrible  God,  whom  we  need  be  afraid  to  look 
upon.  He  comes  to  us  in  a  character  of  mercy,  bringing 
hopeful  gifts.  Nay,  he  comes  to  us  in  a  human  form,  like 
one  of  ourselves,  that  we  may  be  less  frightened  at  him,  and 
readier  to  listen  to  him.  Above  all,  he  comes  to  us  as  a  suf- 
fering man,  to  move  our  pity,  as  a  man  suffering  undeservedly 
for  our  sakes,  to  awaken  our  gratitude  and  love ;  that  so  all 
the  gates  of  our  hearts  may  be  thrown  open  to  him,  and  that 
he  may  enter  and  take  possession  of  them  the  more  easily. 


462  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Was  I  wTong  then  in  saying  that  the  offer  of  free  forgive- 
ness through  Christ  ought  to  lead  sinners  to  God  ?  So  it 
does  lead  those  who  have  sense  enough  to  feel  that  they  are 
sinners.  He  who  is  labouring  and  fainting  under  the 
burthen  of  his  sins  will  creep  to  the  cross  of  Christ  to  be 
rid  of  his  burthen.  But  he  who  does  not  feel  the  lump  of 
sin  to  be  a  deformity  and  a  disgrace  to  him,  he  who  does 
not  desire  to  run  the  race  set  before  him,  and  therefore  does 
not  feel  the  weight  of  those  offences,  which  make  him  crawl, 
instead  of  running, — these  men  of  course  will  not  be 
anxious  to  be  freed  from  a  burthen  which  they  do  not  feel : 
they  will  not  be  anxious  for  God's  forgiveness;  because 
they  are  not  aware  that  they  need  it.  The  first  lesson  for 
us  all  to  learn  then  is  the  evil  and  wickedness  of  sin.  We 
must  get  a  sense  of  our  own  unworthiness  and  guiltiness 
in  the  sight  of  God.  Now  this  can  only  be  done  by  a  dili- 
gent study  of  the  Bible,  especially  of  the  New  Testament. 
E\'erything  in  the  world  about  us  is  fitted  to  stupefy  us,  and 
to  blind  us  to  the  true  nature  of  sin.  In  the  world  it  wears 
a  mask  and  a  disguise.  But  in  God's  book  it  appears  with- 
out a  mask  :  we  may  see  it  there  in  all  its  hideousness.  It 
is  spoken  of  there,  as  they  speak  of  it  in  heaven,  and  as 
Christ  will  speak  of  it  when  he  casts  it  into  hell.  Therefore 
it  is  only  by  a  diligent  study  of  the  New  Testament,  and  of 
other  godly  books,  that  a  man  can  gain  a  right  sense  of  his 
guiltiness  in  the  sight  of  God.  But  you  must  read  with  both 
your  eyes  open,  and  must  listen  with  both  your  ears  open : 
and  one  eye  must  be  turned  inward  on  your  own  soul: 
one  ear  must  be  opened  inward  to  the  whispers  of  your 
conscience.  When  you  meet  with  any  of  those  awful 
threats,  which  are  scattered  through  Scripture  against  every 
kind  of  sin,  you  must  not  say  to  yourselves,  "  That  does  not 
apply  to  me."  Your  first  thought  should  be  rather,  "  It  does 
apply  to  me,  and  was  set  there  to  give  me  warning." 


FORGIVENESS.  463 


The  effect  of  sin,  we  have  seen,  is  to  frighten  us  away 
from  God,  to  make  us  hide  ourselves  from  him,  as  Adam 
and  Eve  hid  themselves  from  him,  to  make  us  fly  away 
from  him,  as  Jonah  fled  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  to 
Tarshish.  Thus  has  it  been  more  or  less  with  all  such  as 
have  had  to  struggle  and  to  squeeze  through  the  narrow 
gate  which  separates  the  ways  of  death  and  life.  Every 
one,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  who  have  had  the  happi- 
ness to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  little  children,  and 
to  abide  therein, — every  one  who  has  allowed  the  burthen 
of  unrepented  sin  to  grow  upon  him,  must  have  felt  at  the 
outset  of  his  christian  march  how  that  burthen  encumbered 
him  and  pressed  him  down  :  he  must  have  felt  too  that,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  hope  of  being  delivered  from  his  burthen 
sooner  or  later,  he  should  never  have  had  the  courage  to 
persevere.  It  is  hope,  the  hope  of  being  forgiven  for 
Christ's  sake,  the  hope,  if  we  turn  to  God,  of  being  received 
mercifully,  as  the  prodigal  son  was  received  by  his  forgiving 
father, — it  is  this  firm  hope  that  bears  a  man  up  through, 
the  dark  and  dreary  season  of  repentance.  For  repentance, 
true  repentance,  is  oftentimes  a  dark  and  stormy  season. 
Were  it  not  for  the  unfailing  promises  of  Christ  which,  hke 
the  rainbow  in  the  clouds,  are  a  sure  sign  to  the  sinner  that 
his  trials  shall  have  an  end,  and  that  the  flood  of  his  sorrows 
and  iniquities  shall  not  swell  so  as  to  drown  his  soul, — were 
it  not  for  those  comfortable  promises  which  Jesus  Christ  in 
his  Gospel  makes  to  all  such  as  will  truly  turn  to  him,  many 
a  sinner's  heart  would  fail ;  he  would  say  within  himself 
"  This  repentance  is  too  painful  for  me :  I  will  go  back  to 
my  former  sins."  Not  that  the  service  of  sin  is  easy  and 
pleasant,  least  of  all  to  the  awakened  sinner.  On  the  con- 
trary, no  sooner  does  he  return  to  it,  than  his  bondage  galls 
and  frets  him.  But  as  a  man  in  a  fever  tosses  and  turns 
about  from  side  to  side,  seeking  rest  for  his  body,  and 


464  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

finding  none,  so  would  it  be  with  the  awakened  sinner, 
were  he  not  supported  by  hope  during  the  trial  and  struggle 
of  his  change.  The  terrors  of  the  Lord  would  frighten  him 
into  repentance :  and  then  the  weariness  of  repentance 
would  carry  him  back  to  sin.  So  the  poor  wretch  would  be 
driven  backward  and  forward,  never  resting,  yet  never  get- 
ting on.  This  is  even  now  the  state  of  many,  in  spite  of 
God's  promises :  and  it  would  be  the  state  of  all  if  Christ 
had  not  saved  us  from  it.  But  his  promises  and  invitations 
are  so  clear  and  gracious,  that  many  a  poor  soul  is  en- 
couraged by  them  to  persevere  in  the  work  of  repentance, 
painful  as  it  may  be  :  until  at  length  God  causes  his  mercy 
to  shine  forth  on  him,  like  a  sunbeam  from  a  stormy  cloud, 
and  speaks  peace  to  his  wounded  spirit :  and  so  the  sinner 
knows  himself  to  be  forgiven,  and  hastens  on  his  way  re- 
joicing. In  a  word,  as  it  happened  to  the  paralytic  man,  so 
does  it  happen  to  us.  When  Christ  had  said  to  him,  *'  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven  thee ;  arise  and  walk,"  he  arose,  and  took 
up  his  bed,  and  went  to  his  home.  Thus  we  too  are 
naturally  palsied  and  lame  and  halt  with  sin  :  but  when 
Jesus  says  to  us,  "  Repent,  and  your  sins  shall  be  forgiven," 
we  too  are  strengthened  and  encouraged  to  arise  and  walk 
in  the  paths  of  righteousness.  We  leave  our  burthen  of  sin 
behind  us,  and  take  up  our  bed,  and  carry  it  along  with  us : 
that  is,  in  our  duty  we  find  our  rest. 

Let  none  of  you  say  within  himself,  "  This  is  all  very  well 
for  gross  and  open  sinners  :  but  it  does  not  apply  to  decent, 
well-beliaved  persons,  such  as  I  am."  Remember  that  a 
man  may  sleep  upon  his  burthen,  instead  of  carrying  it ; 
and  then  to  be  sure  he  does  not  feel  it.  Yes,  he  may  so 
sleep,  and  may  even  dream  that  he  is  moving  onward  :  but 
he  who  moves  only  in  a  dream,  will  not  make  much  way. 
Besides  his  dream  must  come  to  an  end  :  he  must  awake  at 
last.     Does  not  St.  John  tell  us,  that  "  if  a  man  saith  he  has 


FORGIVENESS.  465 


no  sin  he  deceives  himself,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him?" 
Does  not  St.  James  say,  "  In  many  things  we  all  offend?" 
Surely  these  texts  are  plain  enough.  He  who  has  never  felt 
the  burthen  of  his  sins,  and  his  need  of  pardon,  will  do  well 
to  ponder  and  consider  them.  Want  of  feeling  is  no  proof 
of  life  and  health,  but  the  contrary.  If  one  of  my  hands 
were  benumbed,  and  had  lost  all  feeling,  I  should  know 
something  ailed  it.  Were  I  speaking  of  it  to  a  neighbour,  I 
should  probably  say,  "  My  hand  is  just  as  if  it  were  dead." 
Now  this  is  the  very  way  the  Bible  speaks  of  those  whose 
souls  are  not  awake  to  the  evil  of  their  nature :  it  says  of 
them  that  they  are  "  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  Be  not 
deceived  in  this  matter.  Do  not  mistake  a  palsied  con- 
science for  a  healthy  one,  a  dead  soul  for  a  live  one  :  do 
not  fancy  that,  because  you  feel  nothing,  you  have  therefore 
no  burthen  on  your  backs.  Rather  let  your  fears  be  aroused 
by  this  very  thing,  that  you  do  feel  nothing.  It  is  a  symp- 
tom quite  dangerous  enough  to  call  for  all  your  watchful- 
ness. Set  the  looking-glass  of  Scripture  right  beibre  you,  to 
look  yourselves  well  over  therein.  To  that  scriptural  self- 
examination  join  diligent  and  hearty  prayer.  Pray  to  God 
to  deliver  you  from  the  fumes  of  self-conceit,  which  prevent 
your  seeing  yourselves  clearly.  Pray  to  him  to  shew  you 
your  sins.  You  will  find  an  excellent  prayer  for  that  pur- 
pose in  the  last  verses  of  the  iSQth  Psalm,  which  you  may 
use  with  a  very  slight  alteration  :  "  Search  me,  O  God,  that 
I  may  know  my  heart :  try  me,  that  I  may  know  my 
thoughts.  Shew  me  if  there  be  any  way  of  wickedness  in 
me :  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting."  Thus  would  I 
have  you  endeavour  to  quicken  your  consciences,  that  your 
sense  of  your  misdeeds  may  carry  you  with  double  eagerness 
to  your  Saviour, — and  that,  feeling  all  the  weight  and  bur- 
then of  your  sins,  you  may  long  the  more  to  be  freed  from 
it,  and  may  thus  perceive  how  gracious  the  Lord  is,  in  com- 

H   H 


466  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


manding  us,  when  we  pray,  to  say,  Forgive  us  our  sins : 
because,  unless  we  had  the  hope  of  obtaining  forgiveness, 
we  could  never  draw  nigh  to  God. 

But  it  is  not  simple  forgiveness,  that  our  Lord  has  here 
taught  us  to  ask  for.     He  has  been  pleased  to  join  a  condi- 
tion to  this  prayer :  so  that,  every  time  we  repeat  the  prayer 
for  forgiveness,  we  are  to  repeat  the  condition  also.     We 
are  not  to  say,  "  Forgive  us  our  sins,"  without  adding,  "  For 
we  too  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us."    These  are 
the  words  as  they  stand  in  St.  Luke  :  you  are  all  aware  that 
they  are  not  exactly  the  same  as  those  you  are  in  the  habit 
of  using.     You  have  been  taught  to  say,  "  Forgive  us  our 
trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us."     In 
the  text  we  read,  "  Forgive  us  our  sins  ;  for  we  too  forgive 
every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us  : "  while  in  St.  Matthew  it 
stands   thus,   "  Forgive  us   our  debts,  as  we  forgive   our 
debtors."    These  little  differences  may  serve  to  shew  you 
how  unimportant  the  words  are  in  comparison  with  the 
meaning  and  the   spirit.     Whether  we   say  trespasses,  or 
whether  we  say  sins,  or  whether  we  say  debts,  the  meaning 
is  just  the  same  :  and  the  meaning  is  what  it  really  signifies. 
Perhaps  it  was  to  keep  us  in  mind  of  this,  and  to  prevent 
our  making  an  idol  of  the  words  of  his  prayer,  and  using 
them  as  a  spell  or  a  charm,  without  giving  heed  to  their 
meaning, — that  our  Saviour  varied  those  words,  and  said, 
"  Forgive  us  our  debts,"  when  he  taught  the  people  in  his 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  "  Forgive  us  our  sins,"  when  he 
taught  them  the  second  time  in  St.  Luke.     Our  prayer,  as  it 
stands  in  the  Prayerbook,  is  probably  taken  from  the  old 
version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  used  in   early  ages  in  this 
country. 

Now  surely  if  any  rule,  if  any  motive  could  keep  us  all  in 
peace  and  love  with  each  other,  it  would  be  that  in  our 
daily  prayers  we  are  to  declare  to  God,  that  we  have  for- 


FORGIVENESS.  467 


given  every  one  who  has  offended  us,  and  that  we  only  ask 
for  mercy  ourselves  in  proportion  as  we  shew  mercy  to 
others  :  Forgive  us,  as  we  forgive  them.  Shall  we  dare  then 
to  come  before  the  God  of  truth,  the  God  who  knoweth  all 
things,  who  sees  into  our  hearts,  and  reads  our  very  thoughts, 
— shall  we  dare  come  before  such  a  God  with  a  falsehood 
in  our  mouths  ?  Shall  we  lie  to  God  in  our  prayers  ?  Who 
can  be  bold  enough  to  do  this  ?  Yet,  unless  we  do  it,  we 
must  either  give  over  asking  for  pardon,  and  must  depart 
altogether  from  God,  and  be  content  to  remain  under  his 
wrath,  or  we  must  ourselves  clean  forgive  every  one  who 
has  offended  us.  Conceive  a  revengeful,  unforgiving  man 
repeating  this  prayer,  which  you  all,  I  hope,  repeat  daily, — 
conceive  a  man  with  a  heart  full  of  wrath  against  his  neigh- 
bour, with  a  memory  which  treasures  up  the  little  wrongs 
and  insults  and  provocations  he  fancies  himself  to  have 
received  from  that  neighbour, — conceive  such  a  man  praying 
to  God  most  High,  to  forgive  him  his  trespasses,  as  he 
forgives  the  man  who  has  trespassed  against  him.  What  in 
the  mouth  of  such  a  man  do  these  words  mean?  They 
mean  .  .  .  but  that  you  may  more  fully  understand  their 
meaning,  I  will  turn  them  into  a  prayer,  which  we  will  call 
the  prayer  of  the  unforgiving  man  :  *'  O  God,  I  have  sinned 
against  thee  many  times,  from  my  youth  up  until  now.  I 
have  often  been  forgetful  of  thy  goodness  :  I  have  not  duly 
thanked  thee  tor  thy  mercies  :  I  have  neglected  thy  service  : 
I  have  broken  thy  laws  :  I  have  done  many  things  utterly 
wrong  against  thee.  All  this  I  know  :  and  besides  this 
doubtless  I  have  committed  many  secret  sins,  which  in  my 
blindness  I  have  failed  to  notice.  Such  is  my  guiltiness,  O 
Lord,  in  thy  sight :  deal  with  me,  I  beseech  thee,  even  as 
I  deal  with  my  neighbour.  He  has  not  offended  me  one- 
tenth,  one  hundredth  part  as  much  as  I  have  offended  thee  : 
but  he  has  offended  me  very  grievously;   and  I  cannot 


^68  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


lorgive  him.  Deal  with  me,  I  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  as  I 
deal  with  him.  He  has  been  very  ungrateful  to  me, — 
though  not  a  tenth,  not  a  hundredth  part  as  ungrateful  as  I 
have  been  to  thee :  yet  I  cannot  overlook  such  base  and 
shameful  ingratitude.  Deal  with  me,  I  beseech  thee,  O 
Lord,  as  I  deal  with  him.  I  remember  and  treasure  up 
every  little  trifle,  which  shews  how  ill  he  has  behaved  to  me. 
Deal  with  me,  I  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  as  I  deal  with  him. 
I  am  determined  to  take  the  very  first  opportunity  of  doing 
him  an  ill  turn.  Deal  with  me,  I  beseech  thee,  O  Lord, 
as  I  deal  with  him."  Can  anything  be  more  shocking  and 
horrible  than  such  a  prayer  ?  Is  not  the  very  sound  of  it 
enough  to  make  one's  blood  run  cold?  Yet  this  is  just  the 
prayer  which  the  unforgiving  man  offers  up  every  time  he 
repeats  the  Lord's  Prayer.  For  he  prays  to  God  to  forgive 
him  in  the  same  manner  in  which  he  forgives  his  neighbour. 
But  he  does  not  forgive  his  neighbour  :  so  he  prays  to  God 
not  to  forgive  him.  God  grant  that  his  prayer  may  not  be 
heard  !     For  he  is  praying  a  curse  on  his  own  head. 

Such  is  the  wisdom  of  the  way,  such  the  strength  of  the 
motive,  by  which  our  Lord  has  endeavoured  to  establish 
peace  and  good-will  among  his  people.  He  has  taught  us 
that  we  cannot  be  forgiven,  unless  we  on  our  part  forgive 
all  our  brethren.  Thus  he  has  bound  heavenly  peace  and 
earthly  peace  together  by  the  golden  chain  of  prayer.  We 
cannot  have,  we  are  not  even  to  ask  for  heavenly  peace,  for 
peace  with  God,  unless  our  hearts  bear  us  witness  that  we 
have  done  our  utmost  to  keep  at  peace  with  every  man,  yea, 
even  with  those  who  have  ill-used  us,  with  those  who  have 
spoken  evil  of  us,  with  those  who  have  borne  themselves 
proudly  towards  us,  or  have  affronted  and  insulted  us,  or 
have  done  us  any  sort  of  wrong. 

Perhaps  however  you  will  ask  me,  what  is  meant  by  this 
forgiveness?   how  are  we  to   forgive  our  brethren?     The 


FORGIVENESS.  469 


answer  is  plain  enough  :  even  as  we  wish  to  be  forgiven  by- 
God.  The  same  kind  of  forgiveness,  the  same  degree  of 
forgiveness,  which  you  desire  of  God,  are  you  to  shew  to 
each  other.  What  that  is,  let  your  own  hearts  tell  you,  your 
fears  of  hell,  into  which  God  might  justly  cast  you  for  your 
sins,  your  hopes  of  heaven,  which  God  for  his  Son's  sake 
will  throw  open  to  the  penitent  and  forgiving  :  let  these  tell 
you  how  you  ought  to  forgive  your  neighbour.  Or  shall  I 
rather  send  you  to  the  old  saying,  which  contains  as  much 
mercy  and  as  much  wisdom  as  was  ever  put  by  man  into 
three  words?  the  saying,  Forgive  and  forget.  Forgiving 
and  forgetting  is  the  pardon  which  we  desire  from  God  : 
therefore  forgiving  and  forgetting  is  the  pardon  which  we 
are  to  grant  to  man. 

But  some  will  perhaps  say, — at  least  many  have  said, — I 
have  heard  it  said  many  times, — "  Well,  I  will  forgive,  but  I 
cannot  forget."  What !  is  our  memory  then  better  than 
God's  ?  For  he  can  forget,  and  has  promised  to  forget,  the 
sins  of  his  people.  Thus  he  saith  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
(xxxi.  34) :  "  I  will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remem- 
ber their  sin  no  more."  Shall  God  say  this  of  our  sins,  which 
are  so  great  that  they  rise  up  over  our  heads  ?  and  shall  we 
not  be  able  to  say  as  much  of  the  petty  offences  of  our  neigh- 
bour? petty,  not  in  themselves,  it  may  be,  yet  trifling,  insig- 
nificant, small  as  a  little  mote,  when  compared  with  our 
great  beams  and  mountains  of  sin  against  God.  But  what 
does  God  mean  when  he  says,  he  "  will  remember  our  sins 
no  more?"  He  means,  that  he  will  never  think  of  them, 
and  never  mention  them  again.  Cannot  we  do  as  much  ? 
Cannot  we,  in  looking  at  our  neighbour's  behaviour  toward 
us,  look  at  the  better  part  of  it,  rather  than  the  worse  ?  Can- 
not we  let  our  thoughts  dwell  on  those  points  which  make 
for  him,  or  at  least  which  tend  to  excuse  him,  while  we  turn 
away  from  those  parts  of  his  conduct  which  render  his  fault 


47©  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


Uglier  and  more  glaring  ?  Cannot  we  take  account  of  all 
those  matters  in  our  behaviour  to  him,  which  may  have 
seemed  to  him  in  any  degree  harsh,  or  unkind,  or  angry,  or 
disrespectful,  or  overbearing  ?  It  is  not  necessary  that  we 
should  have  meant  them  to  be  so.  You  know  how  easily 
mistakes  arise,  how  easily  the  same  thing  may  be  construed 
in  two  different  ways.  Cannot  we  take  account  of  the  ill- 
judged  advice  of  those  false  friends,  who  so  often  fan  the 
flame  of  discord,  instead  of  throwing  water  on  it  and  extin- 
guishing it  ?  If  we  made  due  allowance  for  all  these  things, 
our  neighbour's  offences  would  dwindle  very  much  in  our 
eyes  :  and  all  these  allowances  we  ought  in  mere  justice  and 
fairness  to  make,  whenever  we  think  about  his  conduct.  But 
the  best  way  is  not  to  think  of  it  at  all,  still  less  to  speak  of 
it :  for,  if  we  refrain  from  speaking  of  it,  the  remembrance 
will  soon  die  away  from  our  minds.  It  is  by  angry  words 
that  people  are  wont  to  swell  the  fire  of  their  anger,  and  to 
make  it  burn  more  fiercely.  Take  away  the  fuel,  and  in 
time  it  will  go  out. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  the  forgiveness  that  we  must  shew 
to  others.  We  must  not  only  forgive  their  offences  against 
us,  but  we  must  forget  them.  We  must  never  speak  of 
them  :  we  must  try  never  to  think  of  them :  we  must  look 
about  for  what  may  be  said  in  excuse  of  them.  Not  only 
must  we  abstain  from  rewarding  others  evil  for  evil,  from 
shewing  them  any  unkindness  :  we  must  be  just  as  ready  to 
shew  them  every  kindness  in  our  power,  as  if  they  had  never 
offended  us.  We  must  try  to  overcome  them  by  kindness, 
to  melt  their  hearts  by  pouring  benefits  upon  them.  For 
this  is  the  forgiveness  which  we  crave  iirom  God.  We  not 
only  desire  that  God  should  forgive  us,  not  only  that  he 
should  blot  out  our  oflcnces,  but  also  that  ior  the  sake  of  his 
blessed  Son,  he  should  receive  us  into  lavour,  and  give  us 
the  good  things  of  heaven. 


XXXIX. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER:   Seventh  Part. 
TEMPTATIONS  AND  EVILS. 

Luke  xi.  4. 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation  :  but  deliver  us  from  evil. 

/^F  the  petitions  contained  in  the  third  part  of  the  Lord's 
^^  Prayer, — the  petitions  we  offer  up  for  ourselves, — we 
have  already  considered  two  ;  in  which  we  utter  our  wishes 
to  God  with  regard  to  the  present  and  the  past.  For  the 
present;  we  pray  God  to  give  us  our  daily  bread,  which 
means,  as  our  Catechism  teaches  us,  all  such  things  as  are 
strictly  needful  both  for  our  souls  and  bodies.  As  to  the 
past,  we  have  besought  him  to  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  and 
to  deliver  us  from  the  weight  and  burthen  of  our  sins. 
Having  thus  provided  for  the  present  and  the  past,  it  only 
remains  for  us  to  entreat  our  heavenly  Father  to  take  care 
of  us  and  help  us  through  the  future.  This  our  Saviour 
teaches  us  to  do  in  the  last  t^vo  petitions  of  his  prayer: 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation;  but  deliver  us  from  evil." 
These  petitions,  you  will  easily  see,  look  to  the  future,  the 
time  to  come :  just  as  the  petition  for  our  daily  bread  looks 
to  the  time  now  present,  and  the  petition  for  forgiveness  to 
that  which  is  gone  by. 


472  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

The  christian  soldier, — to  use  the  comparison  already 
employed  more  than  once  in  these  sermons, — the  christian 
soldier,  we  will  suppose,  has  received  his  rations;  he  has 
been  freed  from  the  heavy  load,  under  which  he  had  groaned 
and  tottered ;  he  has  been  fed  and  armed  and  eased  of  his 
burthen  by  the  Spirit  and  the  promises  of  God ;  and  he  is 
now  ready  to  set  out  on  his  day's  march  toward  heaven. 
But  the  march  lies  through  an  enemy's  country,  and  is  beset 
with  dangers,  concealed  and  open.  There  are  traps  and 
snares  and  pitfalls  for  the  unwary  :  there  are  the  assaults  of 
our  great  foe,  and  all  the  hindrances  of  every  kind  that  he 
can  stir  up,  to  scare  us  back  or  stop  us  on  our  march,  or  at 
least  to  make  us  slacken  our  pace  and  loiter  in  our  progress 
toward  holiness.  These  assuredly  are  great  dangers  :  so  in 
order  to  prepare  us  for  them,  that  we  may  not  run  into  them 
blindly  and  rashly,  our  Lord  has  taught  us  to  pray  daily,  not 
to  be  led  into  temptation,  and  to  be  delivered  from  evil. 
Thus  the  text  divides  itself  into  two  parts ;  first  a  petition 
against  temptation,  by  which  we  may  understand  the  snares 
and  pitfalls  placed  along  our  road, — and  next  a  petition 
against  evil,  that  is,  against  all  those  more  open  dangers  to 
which  the  christian  soldier  is  exposed.  Sin  is  evil,  and  the 
only  real  evil.  The  devil  is  evil,  and  the  father  of  it. 
Wicked  men  are  evil ;  for  they  do  evil,  and  forward  it,  and 
set  an  example  of  it,  and  entice  others  to  it.  From  all  these, 
and  from  all  the  hurt  of  every  kind  which  they  can  do  to 
our  souls,  and  bodies,  we  pray  our  heavenly  Father  to  pre- 
serve us,  when  we  say.  Deliver  us  from  evil. 

Our  first  prayer  to  God  then  with  regard  to  the  time  to 
come  is,  that  he  will  not  lead  us  into  temptation.  That 
God  will  not  lead  us  into  temptation  !  What  can  that 
mean  ?  Can  it  mean  that  God  has  any  pleasure  in  tempting 
us,  in  putting  stumblingblocks  and  pitfalls  across  our  road 
to  heaven  ?     Not  so,  my  brethren  :  harbour  no  such  thought 


TEMPTATIONS    AND    EVILS.  473 

against  your  God.  He  has  expressly  taught  us  by  his 
apostle,  St.  James,  that  he  tempts  no  man  :  "  but  every  man 
is  tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his  own  lust,  and 
enticed."  So  it  is  not  God  that  tempts  us,  but  our  own 
lusts,  our  own  evil  passions  and  desires  and  propensities : 
these  tempt  us,  and  entice  us,  and  if  we  listen  to  them, 
draw  us  into  sin.  Every  man,  the  apostle  tells  us,  is  tempted 
by  his  own  lust,  that  is,  by  his  own  particular  evil  bent  or 
propensity.  All  men  have  not  the  same  evil  bent,  the  same 
wrong  bias.  All  are  not  disposed  alike  to  the  same  wicked- 
ness :  but  some  are  more  easily  tempted  by  one  thing,  some 
by  another.  Some  love  their  ease  :  some  are  eager  after 
business :  some  are  fond  of  pleasure :  some  prize  money 
above  everything:  some  care  little  about  money  in  com- 
parison with  power :  some  again  are  vain,  and  wish  above 
all  things  to  be  admired,  to  be  thought  handsome,  or  clever, 
or  learned,  or  wise.  Some  are  hot  and  passionate ;  while 
others  are  sullen ;  some  are  sluggish  and  fearful ;  while 
others  are  rash  and  headstrong.  In  a  word,  every  man, 
according  to  his  temper  and  character,  is  liable  to  some 
particular  temptation ;  just  as,  according  to  the  constitution 
of  our  bodies,  we  are  each  of  us  liable  to  some  particular 
disease.  All  men,  you  know,  are  not  of  the  same  habit  of 
body.  Some  are  consumptive,  and  liable  to  disorders  of 
the  lungs.  Others  are  of  a  full  habit,  and  have  most  to  fear 
from  fevers.  In  the  same  way  our  souls  are  not  all  equally 
prone  to  fall  into  the  same  sin  :  but  every  one,  as  St.  James 
tells  us,  has  his  own  lust,  his  own  failing,  his  own  weak 
point,  which  puts  him  in  especial  danger. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  an  example  or  two,  to  explain 
this  and  show  the  truth  of  it.  There  are  plenty  of  such  in 
the  Bible.  Solomon,  in  spite  of  all  his  wisdom,  was  drawn 
away  by  his  love  of  women  :  that  was  his  temptation  ;  and 
it  is   one    by  which   millions    and    millions   have   fallen. 


474  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

Righteous  Lot  was  betrayed  into  shameful  crimes  by  the 
love  of  strong  drink  :  that  was  his  temptation  ;  and  you  all 
know  how  many  are  beset  by  it,  and  how  easily  those  who 
give  way  to  it  roll  from  one  sin  to  another.  Balaam  again, 
all  prophet  as  he  was,  was  ruined  by  the  love  of  money ;  that 
was  his  temptation ;  and  by  the  very  same  Satan  is  every 
day  catching  thousands  of  souls.  Here  we  have  three  men, 
highly  and  wonderfully  gifted,  who  in  other  respects  had 
great  excellencies,  each  drawn  away  by  his  own  lust.  So 
that,  since  every  man  has  such  a  root  of  evil  in  him,  you  may 
easily  understand  how  much  to  be  wished  it  is  that  we 
should  not  be  placed  in  situations  where  that  root  would  be 
encouraged  to  come  up,  and  gather  strength,  and  grow  into 
a  stem  and  branches  of  iniquity.  It  would  be  a  great  mis- 
fortune, you  know,  to  a  man  with  weak  lungs,  to  call  him  to 
live  in  a  cold,  bleak  air.  So  would  it  to  a  man  with  weak 
eyes,  to  fix  him  in  a  situation  which  required  much  study  by 
candle-light.  Now  it  is  to  the  full  as  dangerous  for  the  soul 
of  the  ambitious  man,  to  be  put  into  the  road  which  leads 
to  high  stations,  as  it  can  be  for  the  lungs  of  the  consumptive 
man,  to  give  him  a  house  on  a  bleak  hill.  So  is  it  just  as 
dangerous  for  the  soul  of  a  man  like  Balaam,  to  have  much 
to  do  with  money-bags,  as  it  could  be  for  the  sight  of  a 
weak-eyed  man  to  spend  his  nights  in  hard  study. 

What  great  reason  then  have  we  all  to  pray  earnestly  to 
God,  for  ourselves,  and  for  our  friends  and  relations,  that  he 
would  not  place  either  them  or  us  in  situations  to  call  forth 
our  evil  propensities,  and  rouse  them  to  mischievous  action ! 
At  present,  it  may  be,  they  are  asleep  within  us ;  because 
God  has  placed  us  in  a  humble  station,  where  the  soil  is  ill- 
suited  to  the  evil  root ;  so  that  it  lies  almost  dead,  and  only 
shews  itself  in  our  wishes,  in  our  fancies,  and  in  our  dreams. 
But  were  he  to  transplant  us  hence  to  some  other  soil  more 
kindly  to  that  root  of  evil,  what  a  change  for  the  worse 


TEMPTATIONS   AND   EVILS.  475 

might  ensue  !  Our  evil  passion  might  take  fire ;  the  evil 
root  might  sprout  up ;  the  lust,  which  has  hitherto  been  kept 
down  and  been  barren,  might  conceive,  and  bring  forth  sin 
and  death.  All  this  might  happen  to  any  of  us  :  and  it 
would  happen,  I  am  convinced,  to  many,  if  God  did  not 
keep  them  out  of  harm's  way.  One  often  hears  people 
saying,  *'  How  I  wish  I  were  this  ! — I  wish  I  were  that. — I 
should  make  such  a  figure,  I  should  go  on  so  fast,  in  such  a 
line  of  life."  One  often  hears  people  talking  in  this  way, 
both  of  themselves  and  others.  My  belief,  however  is,  that 
God  knows  how  to  choose  our  places  for  us  better  than  we 
do.  Whenever  we  see  a  strong  desire  of  this  sort  thwarted, 
whenever  we  find  a  person,  not  mad  with  conceit,  thinking 
himself  fitted  to  fill  a  higher  station  in  life,  yet  set  in  a 
lower,  we  may  well  suppose  that  God  has  some  good  reason 
for  this.  Perhaps  that  very  thirst  after  fame,  after  rank,  after 
riches  or  honours,  which  is  now  stunted  by  God's  provi- 
dence to  a  mere  wish,  may  betoken  a  feverish  and  dis- 
ordered state  of  soul,  which,  if  it  came  to  be  pampered  by 
opportunity,  instead  of  being  kept  low  and  curbed,  would 
get  ahead  and  gain  a  mastery  over  the  man,  and  hurl  him 
into  everlasting  ruin.  For  as  lust  brings  forth  sin,  so  does 
sin,  when  wrought  into  act  and  deed,  bring  forth  death. 

This  then  is  one  thing  that  our  Lord  means,  by  com- 
manding us  to  pray  to  God  not  to  lead  us  into  temptation. 
We  are  to  pray  that  he  will  not  place  us  in  situations 
favourable  to  our  bad  passions,  and  unfavourable  to  our 
good  principles.  Thus  much  we  may  humbly  hope  that  God 
will  mercifully  grant  us.  But  though  this  is  a  very  important 
part  of  this  petition,  it  is  only  a  part.  The  petition  not 
to  be  led  into  temptation  embraces  a  great  deal  more  than 
this.  For  beside  that  root  of  evil,  which  I  have  been 
speaking  of,  and  which  we  will  call  the  taproot,  every  man  has 
sundry  lesser  shoots  of  the  same  family.     Such  are  the  many 


476  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

infirmities  of  the  temper,  haste,  heat,  coldness,  carelessness, 
indolence ;  to  say  nothing  of  all  the  frailties  belonging  to 
the  flesh.  Now  these  are  faults  which  pertain  to  man  as 
man  :  they  need  no  particular  situation  to  ripen  them,  but 
will  spring  up  almost  everywhere.  Whether  we  are  lords  or 
peasants,  whether  masters  or  servants,  whether  learned  or 
ignorant,  whether  townsfolk  or  countryfolk  :  we  must  have 
tempers,  we  must  have  bodily  appetites  :  and  those  tempers 
and  appetites  will  expose  us  to  trial  more  or  less.  Greatly 
then  does  it  behove  us  to  pray  daily  not  to  be  led  into 
temptation,  seeing  that  our  daily  walk  in  life  is  hedged  with 
so  many  dangers.  We  may  fall  in  divers  ways  by  our 
tempers :  we  may  fall  in  divers  ways  by  our  bodies.  We 
may  fall  by  prosperity,  which  hardens  and  puffs  up  :  we  may 
fall  by  adversity,  which  sours,  and  breeds  discontent  and 
envy.  In  praying  theretore  against  temptation,  we  ask  God 
to  preserve  us  from  all  these  downfalls ;  or  rather  we  ask 
him  not  to  place  us  in  circumstances,  where  our  particular 
infirmities  would  be  tried.  For  instance,  in  the  mouth  of  a 
hot-tempered  man,  it  would  be  a  petition  against  everything 
that  might  stir  his  anger.  In  the  mouth  of  a  timid  person, 
it  would  be  a  petition  against  anything  that  might  frighten 
him  out  of  the  right  path.  In  the  mouth  of  the  obstinate, 
it  would  be  a  petition  against  whatever  might  foster  their 
stubbornness  ;  and  so  on. 

We  must  not  flatter  ourselves  however  that  this  part  of 
the  petition  will  be  granted  in  its  full  extent.  We  must  not 
flatter  ourselves  that  God 'will  enable  us  to  go  through  life 
without  being  exposed  to  any  sort  of  temptation.  For  this 
world  is  a  place  of  trial  and  discipline.  Now  without  some 
kind  of  temptation  we  should  have  no  trials,  and  no  oppor- 
tunity of  exercising  several  of  the  christian  graces.  It  is 
only  in  war  and  in  battle,  that  the  soldier, — and  the  Chris- 
tian,  remember,   is    God's    soldier, — can    learn   his    duty 


TEMPTATIONS   AND   EVILS.  477 


thoroughly.  He  may  learn  to  handle  his  arms  in  peace : 
but  the  coolness,  the  quickness,  the  watchfulness,  the 
caution,  the  steady  unbending  courage,  which  distinguish 
the  veteran  from  the  recruit,  are  only  to  be  gained  on  actual 
service.  So  it  is  only  by  actual  service  against  God's 
enemies,  it  is  only  by  passing  through  temptations  and 
trials,  that  the  Christian  can  be  trained  to  his  work.  He 
needs  to  be  taught  the  lesson  of  his  own  weakness.  He 
needs  to  be  taught  to  watch  and  guard  against  the  surprises 
and  stratagems  of  the  foe.  He  needs  to  be  perfected  in 
faith  and  patience.  How  is  all  this  to  be  done,  if  he  is 
kept,  like  a  plant  under  a  glass,  from  every  breath  and 
touch  of  temptation  ?  No  :  we  shall  assuredly  be  led  into 
temptation,  whether  we  pray  against  it  or  not ;  because 
there  is  no  earthly  road  to  heaven  but  has  its  own  pitfalls, 
and  its  own  snares.  This  is  a  sad  but  certain  truth ;  and  I 
should  only  deceive  you  were  I  to  tell  you  otherwise. 

If  this  however  be  so,  if  all  must  needs  be  tempted,  what 
is  the  good,  you  may  ask,  of  praying  not  to  be  led  into 
temptation?  The  good  is  great  and  plain.  For  though 
God  will  not  keep  us  away  from  all  temptations,  he  will  so 
order  the  matter,  if  we  pray  to  him  and  trust  in  him,  that  the 
temptations  shall  lose  half  their  danger.  He  will  preserve 
us  from  being  surprised  by  them :  he  will  proportion  them 
to  our  strength :  he  will  enable  us  to  withstand  them.  "  In 
vain,"  (says  the  wise  man,  Prov.  i.  17,)  "is  the  net  spread 
in  the  sight  of  any  bird."  Thus  in  vain  will  the  snares  of 
hell  be  set  for  us,  if  God  opens  our  eyes  to  see  them,  and 
gives  us  wisdom  to  shun  them.  It  is  in  this  manner,  if  I 
mistake  not,  that  God  will  answer  our  prayer  to  him,  not  to 
lead  us  into  temptation.  He  will  not  take  temptations 
altogether  out  of  our  way :  but  he  will  shew  us  how  to 
escape  them.  He  may  perhaps  now  and  then  even  lead  us 
into  temptations :  but  he  will  not  leave  us  in  the  midst  of 


478  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


them.  He  will  be  with  us  to  guide  us  through  the  peril. 
He  will  carry  us  safe  through  the  fire  and  through  the  water, 
without  suffering  the  fire  to  scorch  us,  or  the  water  to  come 
over  our  souls. 

Here  a  consideration  occurs  which  must  never  be  over- 
looked,— namely,  that  temptations  derive  all  their  power  of 
hurting  us  from  our  own  weakness.     If  we  were  not  so  frail 
and  blind,  they  would  be  no  temptations  to  us.     As  the 
Psalmist  says   (Ixxvii.  10),  it  is  our  own  infirmity.     There- 
fore, when  God  strengthens  our  infirmities,  he  does  the  same 
thing  as  weakening  our  temptations.     If  you  had  a  weight 
to  lift,  which  was  a  little  above  your  strength,  so  long  as  the 
weight    remained    the   same,    and   your   strength    too   re- 
mained the  same,  you  would  be  unable  to  lift  it.     But  if 
half  the  weight  were  taken  away,  you  could  lift  it  then : 
so  could  you,  if  your  strength  were  doubled.     It  is  the  same 
with  all  temptations.     They  are  dangerous  in  proportion  as 
they  are  too  much  for  us.     Therefore  God  is  sometimes 
pleased  to  lessen  the  temptations :  at  other  times,  by  a  still 
greater  mercy,  he  is  pleased  to  increase  our  strength  to  bear 
them.     Thus,  when  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  was  given  to  St. 
Paul,  we  read  (2  Cor.  xii.  8)  that  he  "  besought  the  Lord 
thrice  that  it  might  depart  from  him."     Now  observe  how 
this  prayer  was  answered.     His  petition  was  not  granted. 
But  "  the  Lord  said.  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  :  for  my 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness."     Observe  too  why 
the  thorn  was  sent.     St.  Paul  tells  us  :  "  to  buffet  him,  lest 
he  should  be  exalted  above  measure."    Such  is  God's  way 
of  dealing  with  his  servants.     He  takes  the  sting  out  of  the 
temptation,  and  tempers   down  its  poison,  till  he  turns  it 
into  a  medicine  for  their  infirmities.     It  is  thus  that  the 
various  temptations  into  which,  or  rather  through  which, 
God   leads   his   people — partly   by   the   watchfulness  they 
oblige  us  to,  partly  by  the  graces  they  exercise,  and  partly 


TEMPTATIONS    AND    EVILS.  479 

by  the  powerful  searching  medicines  which  God's  good  skill 
knows  how  to  extract  from  them — it  is  thus,  I  say,  that  even 
the  temptations  and  trials  of  those  who  truly  love  and  fear 
God,  are  so  overruled  and  ordered  by  him,  that  even  they 
work  together  for  our  good. 

Moreover  our  Lord,  by  commanding  us  to  pray  against 
all  temptations,  has  taught  us  both  humility  and  caution. 
He  has  taught  us  humility,  in  commanding  us  to  pray, 
not  against  some  temptations,  but  against  all.  Nor  does 
he  say,  Support  us  under  temptations,  but.  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation;  as  if  the  very  approaching  them  were 
perilous.  So  that  every  temptation,  however  small,  is  dan- 
gerous to  us,  unless  we  are  protected  by  God's  Spirit. 
Surely  this  should  teach  us  not  to  be  high-minded,  but  to  fear. 

So  likewise  should  it  teach  us  caution,  such  caution  as  is 
enjoined  in  every  part  of  Holy  Writ.  We  are  not  to  enter 
into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  but  to  turn  from  it  and  pass 
away.  We  are  not  to  look  upon  the  wine,  when  it  sparkles 
in  the  cup.  We  are  to  flee  youthful  lusts.  The  author  of 
the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  tells  us  (xxi.  2)  to  "  flee  from  sin 
as  from  the  face  of  a  serpent :  for,  if  thou  comest  too  near, 
it  will  bite  thee."  In  vain  do  we  pray  to  God  not  to  lead 
us  into  temptation,  if  we  run  into  it  of  our  own  accord. 
Now  let  me  ask  you,  brethren,  are  you  duly  careful  in  this 
matter?  Are  you  careful  to  keep  yourselves  and  your 
families  out  of  the  ways  of  sin  ?  Are  you  on  your  guard 
against  bad  company  ?  But  what  is  bad  company  ?  Why, 
every  company  is  bad  to  you,  and  every  place  is  bad  to  you, 
if  it  occasions  you  to  sin  against  God.  Temptations,  I  said 
just  now,  draw  their  strength  from  our  frailty.  What  may 
be  no  temptation  to  another  man,  may,  from  some  weakness 
of  character  or  disposition,  be  a  crafty  snare  to  me.  There- 
fore it  becomes  me  to  avoid  it.  If  you  had  a  ditch  to  cross 
in  the  way  to  your  work,  and  it  was  so  broad  that  you  could 


4So  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


not  leap  over  it,  after  trying  and  tumbling  in  once  or  twice 
perhaps,  you  would  go  round  by  the  bridge.  It  would  be 
no  reason  to  you  that  neighbour  such  a  one  could  leap  it. 
You  would  say,  "  He  is  welcome  to  leap  it  then  :  but  I  can 
only  leap  into  it :  I  have  tried  twice  already  :  twice  have  I 
wetted  myself,  and  dirtied  my  clothes :  so  I  will  not  run  the 
risk  again.  The  safe  way  over  the  bridge  is  good  enough 
for  me."  In  like  manner,  if  by  frequenting  such  a  place,  or 
such  a  company,  you  find  that  you  have  fallen  once  or  twice 
into  sin,  listen  not  to  the  tempter  when  he  bids  you  try 
again.  Say  within  yourself:  "I  have  tried  too  often 
already :  I  will  run  no  further  risk  of  hurting  and  dirtying 
my  soul.  Christ  has  cleansed  it  with  his  blood  :  it  is  too 
precious  a  thing  to  be  polluted." 

I  have  still  to  speak  to  you  of  the  second  petition  which 
Christ  has  commanded  us  to  offer  up  with  regard  to  the 
future,  the  petition  that  God  will  deliver  us  from  evil,  or 
rather  from  the  evil  one  :  for  so  perhaps  the  word  may  be 
more  closely  translated.  This  petition  is  in  fact  the  same 
which  our  Lord,  on  the  night  he  was  betrayed,  offered  up 
for  his  apostles ;  when  he  prayed  to  his  Father,  "  not  that 
he  would  take  them  out  of  the  world,  but  that  he  would 
keep  them  from  the  evil," — that  is,  from  the  evil  one.  (John 
xvii.  1 5.)  Therefore  our  Catechism,  in  explaining  this  peti- 
tion, teaches  us  to  understand  it  as  a  prayer  to  God,  that 
he  will  keep  us  from  all  sin  and  wickedness,  and  from  our 
ghostly  enemy,  and  from  everlasting  death.  It  is  from  our 
ghostly  enemy,  the  devil,  who  is  the  author  of  all  evil,  and 
from  all  sin  and  wickedness,  which  are  his  works,  and  from 
everlasting  death,  which  is  the  portion  appointed  for  him  and 
his,  that  we  are  to  pray  to  our  heavenly  Father  to  deliver  us. 

Here  it  is  worth  while  to  remark  the  difference  between 
the  notion  of  evil  which  the  Bible  teaches,  and  the  notion 
of  evil  which  the  world  teaches.     If  you  ask  a  man  of  the 


TEMPTATIONS   AND    EVILS.  48 1 

world  what  evil  is,  he  will  tell  you,  everything  that  gives  you 
pain,  or  annoys  you,  or  makes  you  uncomfortable.  Bad 
health,  for  instance,  he  will  say  is  an  evil ;  a  lazy  servant  is 
an  evil ;  a  hard  master,  a  quarrelsome  neighbour,  are  evils  : 
so  is  a  damp  house  :  poverty  again  is  an  evil ;  afflictions  of 
all  kinds  are  evils.  If  he  troubled  his  head  about  state 
affairs,  he  would  add  such  and  such  things  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  which  he  wished  to  see  reformed  or 
done  away.  In  short,  evil,  according  to  the  worldly  man, 
is  whatever  troubles  the  body,  or  interferes  with  our  worldly 
prosperity  and  comfort.  But  is  this  the  Christian's  notion 
of  evil  ?  Is  this  the  answer  which  St.  Paul  or  St.  John 
would  have  given,  if  any  one  had  asked  them  what  evil  is  ? 
They  would  tell  you  that  the  only  evil  of  any  consequence 
is  what  is  against  the  will  of  God.  So  that  the  devil  is 
above  all  the  Evil  One ;  because  he  is  the  great  opposer  of 
that  goodness,  which  God  wills  and  delights  in.  They 
would  tell  you  further,  that,  in  proportion  as  anything  draws 
us  nearer  to  God,  it  is  good  ;  in  proportion  as  anything 
draws  us  away  from  God,  it  is  evil.  Sin  therefore  is  the 
greatest  evil  which  a  Christian  has  to  fight  against,  and  to 
dread  :  because  it  is  the  chief  hindrance  which  keeps  us 
from  God,  the  great  partition-wall  between  us  and  him. 
Were  there  no  such  thing  as  sin  in  the  world,  we  should  be 
with  God,  as  Adam  was  before  the  Fall.  The  pure  in 
heart, — they  who  are  free  from  inward,  as  well  as  from  out- 
ward sin, — ^^our  Lord  tells  us,  shall  see  God.  Yes,  even  in 
this  life  they  have  a  spiritual  perception  of  him  with  the 
eyes  and  senses  of  their  souls ;  the  vapours  of  sin,  which 
conceal  him  from  us,  being  in  their  case  nearly  swept  away. 
The  thick  cloud  which  hides  God  from  the  sinner,  is  to 
them  little  more  than  a  misty  veil,  through  which  they  are 
permitted  to  catch  glimpses  of  his  excellences,  and  to  see 
him,  though  only  through  a  glass,  and  darkly.      But  the 

I  I 


482  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


sinner  has  no  such  glimpses ;  for  to  him  the  glass  is  stained 
and  blackened  by  the  smoke  and  foulness  of  his  sins.  So 
that  sin  is  doubly  an  evil.  It  is  an  evil,  because  it  spreads 
3.  fog  over  the  understanding,  and  hinders  it  from  seeing 
God :  and  it  is  an  evil,  because  it  winds  a  chain  round  the 
heart,  and  fastens  it  down  to  the  earth  and  the  things  of  the 
earth,  and  hinders  it  from  rising  up  to  God. 

Now  which  of  these  notions  of  evil  is  the  truer?  the 
Christian's,  or  the  worldly  man's  ?  They  are  totally  different. 
The  one  looks  at  the  annoyances  of  the  body,  the  other  at 
the  clogs  of  the  soul.  The  one  speaks  of  those  things  which 
make  us  ill  at  ease  here  on  earth,  the  other  of  those  things 
which  keep  us  back  from  heaven.  The  man  of  the  world 
looks  to  himself,  and  calls  those  things  evil  which  are  dis- 
pleasing to  himself:  the  Christian  looks  to  God,  and  calls 
those  things  evil  which  are  displeasing  to  God.  Which  of 
these  two  accounts  is  the  truer  ?  Which  is  the  truer  and 
the  wiser  way  of  judging  of  things  ?  to  measure  them  by 
reference  to  God  ?  or  to  measure  them  by  reference  to  our- 
selves? Moreover  which  have  we  most  reason  to  be  afraid 
of  ?  a  hurt  to  our  bodies?  or  a  hurt  to  our  souls  ?  Which 
hurt  will  sink  the  deepest?  which  will  last  the  longest? 
Death,  my  good  friends,  the  great  and  fatal  hurter.  Death, 
from  the  graves  around  us,  has  a  voice  to  answer  these 
questions.  The  inmates  of  those  graves  were  once  as  much 
alive  to  all  the  pains  and  annoyances  of  the  body  and  of 
the  world,  as  we  can  be.  They  suffered  as  much  in  their 
days  from  sickness  and  afflictions  of  every  kind.  What  are 
they  the  worse  for  it  now  ?  What  does  their  dust  feel  now 
of  all  those  pains  and  pinchings,  which  they  deemed  so  sore 
and  intolerable?  No  more  than  any  of  you  feel  of  the 
sicknesses  you  went  through  when  lying  in  your  cradles. 
Do  you  remember  any  of  those  sicknesses  ?  Can  you  feel 
the  pain  you  felt  when  you  were  teething  ?     Can   you  call 


TEMPTATIONS    AND    EVILS.  483 

back  the  taste  of  any  nauseous  medicine  which  you  may 
have  taken  when  a  year  old?  Then,  but  not  else,  may 
the  corpses  in  the  churchyard  still  feel  the  pains  they 
went  through  when  aUve.  Death  ended  all  those  pains. 
Death,  in  giving  our  bodies  their  last  wound,  frees  them 
from  all  pain  afterward.  But  the  same  death,  which  closes 
the  pains  of  the  body,  opens  and  begins  the  sufferings  of 
the  soul — sufferings  exceeding  bitter,  and  hopeless,  and 
without  end.  Is  not  this  then  the  true  evil?  is  not  this 
the  thing  to  be  really  dreaded  ?  this  second,  this  everlasting, 
everfeehng  death.  My  brethren,  in  the  same  degree  in 
which  this  second  death,  the  death  of  the  soul,  is  worse  than 
the  first  death,  the  death  of  the  body,  in  the  very  same 
degree  must  sin,  the  evil  of  the  soul,  be  worse  than  any  evil 
which  can  befall  the  body :  for  sin,  it  is  written,  brings  forth 
death.  These  then,  and  not  the  annoyances  which  the 
worldly  man  makes  so  much  of,  are  the  evils  which  should 
rise  up  before  our  hearts  and  minds,  when  we  pray  to  be 
delivered  from  evil.  These  are  the  evils  against  which  the 
Church,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  lifts  up  her  voice, 
crying  to  her  Saviour  and  her  God,  "  From  sin,  from  the 
crafts  and  assaults  of  the  devil,  from  thy  wrath,  and  from 
everlasting  damnation,  good  Lord  deliver  us." 

But  it  may  be  asked,  and  will  be,  I  dare  say,  by  some, 
"  Is  not  bodily  pain  then  an  evil  ?  and  sickness  ?  and 
poverty  ?  and  the  loss  of  friends  ?  are  not  all  these  evils  ?  " 
Yes,  undoubtedly,  to  us  they  are  lesser  evils  :  and,  as  such, 
we  may  pray  against  them.  Our  Lord  himself  prayed  thrice 
that  his  cup  of  suffering  might  pass  away  from  him.  In  this 
too  we  are  permitted  to  follow  his  example  :  so  long  as  we 
bear  in  mind  that  at  the  worst  they  are  only  lesser  evils,  and 
that  in  the  end  it  is  not  unlikely  they  may  prove  to  have 
been  for  our  good.  If  any  man  ever  suffered  the  sufferings 
of  the  body, — and  those  of  the  heart  too,  from  false  brethren, 


484  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

from  ungrateful  disciples,  from  the  slanders  of  his  enemies, 
and  the  desertion  of  his  friends— the  apostle  Paul  suffered 
them.  Yet  how  does  he  speak  of  them  ?  "  Our  light 
affliction,"  (he  says,)  "  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for 
us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  This 
is  the  true  way  to  think  of  earthly  pains  and  sorrows, — that 
they  are  light  beside  the  evils  of  the  soul, — that  they  are 
only  to  last  a  moment,  as  it  were,  in  comparison  with  eternity, 
above  all,  that  they  may  be  the  means,  if  we  bear  them 
patiently,  of  raising  us  to  a  height  of  glory.  I  spoke  a  while 
ago  of  God's  medicines.  Now  if  God  can  extract  health 
and  strength  for  his  people  even  from  the  poison  of  tempta- 
tion, much  more  does  he  do  so  from  the  bitterness  of 
affliction. .  Therefore  let  us  never  be  impatient  under  the 
chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  we  are  rebuked  by 
him ;  for  "  whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth."  Now  chastening 
for  the  present  seemeth  "  grievous :  nevertheless  afterward 
it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness  to  those  who 
are  exercised  thereby."  (Heb.  xii.  6,  11.)  Grievous  then  as 
the  chastening  may  be,  if  it  yields  the  fruit  of  righteousness, 
if  it  works  out  a  weight  of  glory  for  you,  if  it  prepares  and 
refines  you  for  the  happiness  and  the  purity  of  heaven, — 
would  you  forego  it  ?  Of  some  it  is  written,  that  "  through 
much  tribulation  they  must  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Would  you  give  up  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  everlasting 
joys  of  heaven,  rather  than  go  through  the  tribulation,  which 
by  God's  appointment  is  to  lead  you  thither  ?  Rather  glory 
in  your  tribulation,  remembering  that  "  tribulation  worketh 
patience." 

Seeing  therefore  that  worldly  afflictions  are  grievous  so 
long  as  they  last,  we  may  indeed  pray  against  them.  But 
such  a  prayer  must  be  offered  up  with  a  full  sense  of  their 
comparative  insignificance,  lest  we  be  troubled  by  them 


TEMPTATIONS    AND    EVILS.  485 

above  measure.  It  must  be  ofiered  up  moreover  in  humble 
reliance  on  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Father, 
lest  peradventure  we  should  be  praying  against  a  blessing. 
In  a  word,  we  must  pray  against  them  with  an  if.  But  our 
sins  need  no  if  in  praying  against  them.  Their  danger, 
their  burthen,  their  grievousness,  their  shame,  their  curse, 
we  know  too  well  from  sad  experience.  God  himself  has 
declared  them  to  be  evil.  Therefore  they  should  be  the 
evils  uppermost  in  our  minds,  when  we  say,  "  Deliver  us 
from  evil." 

I  have  now  explained  the  last  petition  in  the  third  part 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  :  and  with  this  the  short  form  of  it, 
which  we  find  in  St.  Luke,  ends.  St.  Matthew  gives  a 
longer  form,  which  we  are  accustomed  to  make  use  of,  and 
adds  a  fourth  part  by  way  of  conclusion :  "  for  thine  is  the 
kingdom,  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for  ever  and  ever." 
The  meaning  of  this  conclusion  it  will  not  take  many  words 
to  shew.  It  contains  our  reasons  for  praying  to  God  :  be- 
cause the  kingdom  is  his, — he  is  the  king  and  ruler  of  all 
the  world ;  the  power  is  his, — so  he  can  grant  our  requests ; 
and  the  glory  of  our  deliverance  is  and  will  be  his.  By  our 
salvation  he  is  and  will  be  glorified:  and  our  duty  is  to 
seek  not  our  own  glory,  but  his,  which  endureth  for  ever 
and  ever.  Herewith  the  prayer  ends,  by  leaving  the  image 
of  eternity  before  us. 

Thus  have  I  endeavoured  to  show  you  as  much  as  I  can 
of  the  meaning  of  this  wonderful  prayer.  What  love  to  God, 
what  desires  of  holiness,  what  a  disregard  of  earthly  things, 
what  longings  for  heavenly  things,  have  we  found  in  it! 
And  why,  suppose  you,  did  our  Lord  teach  us  a  prayer  so 
full  of  all  these  blessed  feelings  ?  Was  it  not  that,  by  our 
saying  it  over  day  after  day,  the  excellence  of  such  feelings 
might  be  kept  ever  before  our  minds,  and  the  love  of  them 
might  be  wrought  into  our  hearts  ?     This  is  the  true  pur- 


486  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


pose  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  :  if  it  do  not  this  in  some  degree, 
it  does  nothing.  Therefore  I  say  not  to  you,  repeat  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  but  practise  the  Lord's  Prayer:  make  its 
petitions  the  rule  and  model  of  your  lives :  and  may  God 
prosper  your  endeavours  to  practise  it,  to  the  health  and 
comfort  of  your  souls. 


XL. 

IDOLATRY. 

I  John  v.  21. 
Little  children,  keep  yourselves  from  idols. 

"  nPHY  commandment  is  exceeding  broad,"  says  the 
-  Psalmist,  speaking  of  God's  holy  law.  It  is  well  to 
bear  these  words  in  mind,  whenever  we  are  reading  any 
part  of  that  law,  above  all  when  we  are  looking  at  the  Ten 
Commandments,  as  they  are  called,  which  God  gave  to  the 
children  of  Israel,  after  he  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt. 
Nothing  can  be  of  greater  importance  than  to  have  a  right 
understanding  on  this  matter;  and  a  right  understanding 
must  be  a  full  one.  It  will  not  do  to  know  a  quarter  of  the 
meaning  of  God's  commandments,  or  half  their  meaning  : 
you  must  know  their  whole  meaning :  else  you  will  never 
wish  to  try  to  keep  them  wholly,  as  it  behoves  every  Chris- 
tian to  do.  Now  when  we  remember  that  God's  command- 
ment is  exceeding  broad,  we  are  warned  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  in  it,  and  are  led  to  look  for  more  than  may  at  first 
sight  meet  the  eye.  If  a  man  were  to  hear  that  a  friend  had 
left  him  an  estate,  and  went  to  the  spot,  and  saw  a  narrow 
strip  of  land,  he  might  at  first  think  he  had  seen  the  whole 
of  it.  But  if  he  was  told  the  estate  was  very  large,  he  would 
feel  sure  that  there  must  be  something  more :  he  would  say 


488  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

to  himself,  "  This  little  strip  of  land  can  never  be  the  large 
estate  which  my  friend  has  left  me  ;"  and  he  would  set  about 
inquiring  diligently  how  far  the  estate  reached.  So  should 
it  be  with  God's  commandments.  At  first  thought,  when  a 
man  hears  that  the  sixth  commandment  is,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
murder,"  the  seventh,  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery," 
the  eighth,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  he  may  fancy  that 
nothing  more  is  forbidden  by  these  words,  than  just  the  very 
crimes  mentioned  in  them,  of  murder,  and  adultery,  and  theft. 
But  when  he  calls  to  mind  that  God's  commandments  are 
exceeding  broad,  if  he  has  any  power  of  thinking  in  his 
mind,  and  really  wishes  to  please  God,  he  will  begin  to  say 
to  himself,  "  There  must  be  something  more  in  these  com- 
mandments than  I  thought  for ;  or  the  Psalmist  would  never 
have  called  them  exceeding  broad.  If  murder  only  means 
what  is  commonly  called  murder,  and  nothing  more,  there 
is  nothing  broad  in  that.  If  adultery  only  means  what  is 
commonly  called  adultery,  and  nothing  more,  there  is 
nothing  broad  in  that.  If  stealing  only  means  what  is  com- 
monly called  stealing,  and  nothing  more,  there  is  nothing 
very  broad  in  that.  These  commandments  must  have  some 
wider  and  deeper  meaning.  What  can  that  meaning  be?" 
Thus  the  man's  curiosity  is  set  to  work :  he  begins  to  study 
and  to  search ;  and  perhaps  after  a  time,  in  our  Saviour's 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  he  finds  out  the  exceeding  breadth 
and  depth  and  height  of  God's  law.  For  this  is  the  way  we 
ought  to  study  God's  commandments,  not  in  a  spirit  of 
bondage,  or  of  dutiful  unwillingness,  but  in  the  spirit  of  tnie 
children,  with  hearts  full  of  reverence  and  love.  God's 
commandments  are  not  grievous,  but  just,  and  wise,  and 
merciful,  and  good  and  wholesome  for  us.  So  that  it 
behoves  us  not  to  listen  to  them  with  slow  hearts,  nor  to 
look  at  them  with  half-closed  eyes,  like  people  who  are 
afraid  of  seeing  too  much  of  a  thing.     We  should  gaze  at 


IDOLATRY.  489 


them  with  eyes  wide  open,  and  search  into  them  on  every 
side,  that  we  may  be  sure  of  not  overlooking  or  missing 
any  part  of  any  one  of  them.  None  but  rogues  and  felons 
look  at  a  law  to  find  out  how  they  may  evade  it.  Would  it 
not  then  be  a  shame  and  a  sin  to  look  at  God's  law,  as 
rogues  and  felons  look  at  human  laws  ?  Rather  should  we 
look  at  it  in  the  spirit  of  sons, — since  sons  we  are  called  to 
be, — with  a  wish  to  make  as  much  of  it  as  possible,  that, 
seeing  its  full  reach,  we  may  strive  to  keep  it  to  the  utmost. 
This,  for  example,  is  the  way  we  ought  to  look  at  the  first 
and  second  commandments,  which  are  so  nearly  connected, 
that  they  may  well  be  considered  as  branches  of  one  and 
the  same  law.  The  first  forbids  us  to  have  any  god,  but 
the  one  true  God.  The  second  forbids  us  to  make  any 
image  or  likeness  of  any  created  thing,  for  the  purpose  of 
bowing  down  to  it  and  worshipping  it.  These  two  com- 
mandments, I  say,  may  be  regarded  in  a  manner  as  parts  of 
one  and  the  same  commandment.  For  there  is  hardly  any 
way  in  which  mankind  have  been  drawn  off  from  the  wor- 
ship of  the  one  true  God  to  the  worsliip  of  false  gods,  so 
much  as  by  the  setting  up  of  images,  and  the  falling  down 
to  them  and  worshipping  them.  Thus  we  read  in  the 
Book  of  Wisdom  (xiv.  12),  "  the  devising  of  idols  was  the/ 
beginning  of  spiritual  fornication,  and  the  invention  of  them' 
the  corruption  of  life."  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us  that 
reasonable  beings  should  bow  down  to  images  of  wood  and 
stone,  the  work  of  their  own  hands,  and  should  worship 
these  images  as  gods,  yet,  at  the  time  when  our  Lord  came 
into  the  world,  this  idolatry  or  idol-worship  was  spread  over 
the  whole  earth.  Every  nation,  except  the  Jews,  was  sunk 
in  idol-worship.  The  world  was  full  of  idols,  and  therewith 
of  false  gods  :  so  that  almost  everything  was  worshipped  in 
it,  except  the  one  true  God,  the  only  Maker  of  heaven  and 
earth.     He,  and  he  alone,  was  lost  and  forgotten  amid  the 


490  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

mob  of  deities  that  were  thus  swarming  in  every  quarter  of 
the  world.  The  yoke  of  idolatry  lay  heavy  upon  every 
people  and  nation  and  language  :  nor  was  that  yoke  broken, 
until  our  Saviour  sent  forth  the  preachers  of  his  Gospel,  to 
bring  all  mankind  to  the  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God, 
and  of  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 

After  our  Saviour's  teaching,  one  might  have  thought 
things  would  have  gone  on  better,  at  least  in  his  own  Church. 
But,  alas !  the  same  causes  will  ever  produce  the  same 
effects.  Instead  of  the  images  of  heathen  gods,  which  had 
been  overthrown,  the  churches  after  a  time  were  again 
filled  with  the  images  of  apostles,  evangelists,  martyrs,  and 
other  holy  men.  No  one  can  beHeve  that,  when  these 
images  of  saints  were  first  introduced,  it  was  done  with  any 
design  of  worshipping  them.  Had  any  one  told  the  per- 
sons who  first  set  them  up,  that  such  would  be  the  conse- 
quence, doubtless  they  would  have  exclaimed,  "  It  is  impos- 
sible. What !  Christians,  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  turn 
idolaters  again!  Christians  worship  any  one  but  God  and 
his  Christ !  It  can  never  be.  We  are  only  setting  up  these 
images  of  holy  men,  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  their  great 
piety  in  the  minds  of  the  common  people.  But  as  to  wor- 
shipping them  .  .  that  will  never  come  to  pass."  Such 
would  doubtless  have  been  the  language  of  these  well- 
meaning  but  mistaken  persons,  v/ho  first  introduced  images 
into  christian  churches,  if  they  had  been  told  that  the  time 
would  come  when  these  images  would  be  reverenced,  and 
the  saints  themselves  would  be  worshipped,  more  than  God. 
They  would  certainly  have  said,  "  It  can  never  happen." 
Yet  happen  it  did :  and  if  it  had  not  pleased  God  to  break 
our  bonds,  as  he  did  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation, — if  it 
had  not  pleased  him  to  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  this  land, 
and  to  raise  up  holy  men  amongst  us,  men  full  of  zeal  and 
piety,  champions  of  God   and  his   Christ,  who   with   that 


IDOLATRY.  491 


mighty  weapon,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God,  smote  the  outward  and  visible  idolatry  of  the  land, 
so  that  image  and  saint  fell  to  the  ground  before  them,  just 
as  Dagon  of  old  in  the  Philistine  temple  fell  before  the  ark 
of  the  Lord, — had  it  not  been  for  this  great  deliverance,  we 
too  should  this  day  have  been  in  the  same  darkness,  in 
which  so  many  other  people  are  still  lying  :  we  should  still 
have  been  praying  to  saints,  and  bowing  down  to  their 
images. 

Here  are  two  great  and  merciful  deliverances  vouchsafed 
by  Almighty  God  to  this  land.  The  first  deliverance  was 
from  the  gross  darkness  of  heathen  ignorance ;  the  second, 
from  the  twilight  of  Romish  superstition.  The  first  was  a 
deliverance  from  the  worshipping  of  idol  gods  ;  the  second, 
from  the  worshipping  of  idol  saints.  Such  great  things  has 
God  done  for  this  land,  more  than  for  most  others.  Ought 
not  our  thankfulness  then  to  be  in  some  degree  answerable 
to  his  goodness  ?  ought  we  not  to  love  and  serve  him  better 
than  they  to  whom  he  has  been  less  bountiful  ?  Above  all, 
must  we  not  be  utterly  without  excuse,  if,  after  all  that  God 
has  done  to  clear  the  land  from  idolatry,  we  are  wicked 
enough  to  make  fresh  idols  for  ourselves  ?  The  poor  hea- 
then has  an  excuse  to  offer  for  worshipping  his  gods  of  stone; 
he  has  been  taught  to  do  so  by  his  parents.  The  papist 
has  an  excuse  to  ofter  for  reverencing  the  images  of  his 
saints :  he  has  been  misled  by  his  priests,  and  has  never 
had  the  Scriptures  opened  to  him.  But  what  excuse  can 
we  bring  forward?  we  who  have  never  seen  an  idol  or  an 
image, — we  who  are  Protestants,  and  the  children  of  Pro- 
testants,— we  who  have  the  Bible  in  our  hand  to  teach  us 
better, — v/hat  excuse  can  any  of  us  plead  before  our  hea- 
venly Judge,  if  we  break  his  first  commandment,  and  do 
dishonour  to  his  name,  by  choosing  some  other  god  to 
worship  ?     Besides,  the  idols  of  the  heathens  are  their  only 


492  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


gods :  but  we,  in  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
are  blessed  with  the  knowledge  of  a  God,  great  and  perfect 
enough  to  engage  all  our  thoughts,  merciful  and  loving 
enough  to  attract  all  our  affections.  Were  our  hearts  large 
as  the  universe,  God  is  great  enough  to  fill  them. 

But  perhaps  you  may  think  that  no  Englishman  of  the 
present  day  is  ever  guilty  of  the  dreadful  sin  of  idolatry. 
•  No  Englishman,  you  will  tell  me,  for  the  last  hundred  years, 
has  ever  thought  of  worshipping  images  or  idols.  Therefore 
the  first  and  second  commandments  no  way  concern  us, 
except  as  reason  for  giving  thanks  to  God,  who  has  made 
us  so  much  better  than  the  rest  of  the  world.  This  is  a  very 
natural  thought ;  and  I  doubt  not  many  think  so.  Very 
many,  I  doubt  not,  when  they  hear  the  first  two  command- 
ments read  on  a  Sunday  morning,  instead  of  heartily  pray- 
ing to  God  to  have  mercy  on  them  for  their  breaches  of 
this  law, — instead  of  beseeching  him  to  incline  their  hearts 
to  keep  it  better  for  the  future,— are  readier  to  say,  like  the 
Pharisee  in  the  parable,  "  Lord,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not 
as  other  men  are,  idolaters,  worshippers  of  graven  images, 
breakers  of  the  first  and  second  commandments."  But 
though  it  may  be  natural  to  think  it  an  impossible  thing  for 
an  Englishman  of  the  present  day  to  be  an  idolater,  is  it 
right  to  think  so  ?  Does  a  man  who  thinks  so,  think 
rightly  ?  Is  idolatry,  the  breach  of  the  first  commandment, 
is  the  having  other  gods  beside  the  one  true  God,  a  sin  un- 
known in  England  at  this  day  ?  is  it  a  sin  which  we  can 
truly  say  that  none  of  us  have  ever  been  guilty  of  ?  It  is 
true,  there  are  no  idolaters  in  England,  who  are  outwardly 
and  visibly  such  :  there  are  none  who  worship  graven  images, 
and  put  what  the  prophet  Ezekiel  calls  (xiv.  3)  the  stum- 
blingblock  of  their  iniquity  before  their  face.  But  are  there 
none  who  are  idolaters  inwardly  and  spiritually  ?  Are 
there  none  who  have  set  up  their  idols  in  their  hearts  ?   For 


IDOLATRY.  493 


observe,  there  are  two  things  that  the  prophet  Ezekiel 
joins  together  in  the  passage  just  referred  to  :  and  against 
both  of  them  he  threatens  heavy  judgments.  There  is  the 
putting  the  stumblingblock  of  our  iniquity  before  our  face ; 
and  there  is  also  the  setting  up  of  idols  in  our  hearts.  The 
first  of  these  two  things  is  that  outward  and  visible  idolatry, 
which  the  heathens  are  guilty  of,  and  from  which  this  land 
through  God's  grace  is  altogether  free.  But  the  other  kind 
of  idolatry,  the  setting  up  of  idols  in  the  heart,  is  much  the 
worse  of  the  two ;  at  least  if  it  be  in  a  heart  which  has  been 
called  to  the  love  of  Christ ;  if,  instead  of  keeping  our  souls 
pure,  as  befits  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  profane  and 
pollute  them  by  devoting  them  to  vain  and  perishable,  or 
as  too  many  do,  to  abominable  things.  "  If  any  man  defile 
the  temple  of  God,"  says  the  apostle,  "him  will  God 
destroy."  (i  Cor.  iii.  17.)  But  the  heart  of  a  Christian  is  1 
the  temple  of  God  :  it  is  the  sanctuary  which,  far  above  any  V 
building  made  with  hands,  God  delights  to  take  up  his 
abode  in.  Shall  any  one  then  dare  to  defile  God's  own 
temple,  by  setting  up  an  idol  therein,  to  provoke  him  to 
jealousy,  and  as  it  were,  insult  him  to  his  face  ?  Just  con- 
sider what  your  feelings  would  be,  were  a  heathen  king  to 
conquer  this  land,  and  to  set  up  the  images  of  his  gods  in 
the  beautiful  cathedral  at  Salisbury,  where  we  and  our 
fathers  for  so  many  generations  have  been  accustomed  to 
worship  God  and  his  Son.  Yet  the  heart  of  a  Christian  is 
far  more  beautiful,  and  far  more  precious,  and  far  dearer  to 
God,  than  that  cathedral.  The  cathedral  at  Salisbury  will 
not  last  for  ever  :  Christ  did  not  die  for  it :  he  did  not  pur- 
chase it  with  his  own  blood.  But  us  he  has  bought :  for  us 
he  has  paid  a  price,  that  we  might  be  his  for  all  eternity. 
What  then  must  be  his  feelings,  to  see  his  own  hearts 
defiled  and  polluted  by  being  given  up  to  idols. 

For,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  there  are  divers  ways  of 


494  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

breaking  the  first  and  second  commandments,  beside  wor- 
shipping Baal,  as  wicked  Ahab  did,  and  bowing  down  to 
stocks  and  stones.  Many  a  man  has  set  up  his  idols  in  his 
heart,  who  never  dreamt  of  worshipping  a  graven  image. 

.     The  root  and  essence  of  idolatry,  as  St.  Paul  teaches  us,  is 

\  the  worshipping  and  serving  God's  creatures  more  than  God 
himself.  Whoever  then  serves  anyone  of  God's  creatures  more 
than  he  serves  God, — whoever  loves  any  one  of  God's  crea- 
tures more  than  he  loves  God, — whoever  makes  any  one  of 
God's  creatures  more  an  object  of  his  thoughts,  and  allows  it 
to  fill  a  greater  space  in  his  mind  than  God  fills, — that  man  is 
guilty  of  idolatry,  in  the  spiritual  and  christian  sense  of  the 
word.  When  I  say  God's  creatures,  I  mean,  not  living 
creatures  merely,  but  creatures  of  every  kind, — everything 
which  God  has  made  for  us,  or  enabled  us  to  make  for  our- 
selves,— all  the  sweet  and  relishing  things  we  can  enjoy  in 
this  world, — pleasures,  honours,  riches,  comforts  of  every 
kind.  Therefore  if  any  man  is  foolish  and  wicked  enough 
to  give  up  his  heart  to  any  one  of  these  creatures,  and 
suffers  himself  to  be  drawn  away  from  serving  God  by  it,  he 
is  an  idolater  in  the  sight  of  heaven. 

But  if  this  be  so,  the  question.  Are  there  any  idolaters  in 
England  ?  is  answered  already.  Looking  at  the  first  two 
commandments  in  their  fullness,  and  understanding  them 
according  to  their  exceeding  breadth,  who  is  there  who  has 
not  transgressed  them  at  some  time  of  his  Hfe  ?  Who  is  there, 
except  only  the  sincere  and  pious  Christian,  who  is  not 
breaking  them  daily  ?  Well  might  St.  John  warn  us,  as  he 
does  in  the  text,  to  keep  ourselves  from  idols,  and  make 
this  the  concluding  precept  in  his  letter.  For  if  the  goods 
of  this  world  may  all  become  so  many  idols,  luring  our 
hearts  away  from  God,  then  is  the  land  full  of  idols  of  a 
thousand  kinds, — idols  for  all  ages,  for  all  classes,  for  all 
tempers,  for  all  hearts.     There  are  idols  for  the  worldly- 


IDOLATRY. 


495 


minded,  and  idols  for  the  generous, — idols  for  the  intem- 
perate, and  idols  for  the  prudent :  there  are  idols  for  the 
affectionate;  and  again  there  is  an  idol  for  the  selfish. 
Young  and  old  have  their  idols;  married  and  unmarried 
have  their  idols ;  rich  and  poor  have  their  idols.  From 
these  idols  keep  yourselves,  my  brethren  :  and  whenever  you 
hear  the  first  and  second  commandments  read,  pray  to  God 
more  heartily  than  you  have  yet  done,  to  forgive  you  your 
breaches  of  these  two  laws,  and  to  incline  your  hearts  to 
keep  them  for  the  future. 

But  it  may  be  well  to  go  a  little  into  particulars.  The 
covetous  man,  then,  to  begin  with  him,  is  an  idolater.  Of 
this  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for  St.  Paul  expressly  tells  us, 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  (iii.  5),  that  covetousness, 
or,  as  the  word  may  perhaps  be  more  closely  rendered, 
insatiableness  and  greediness,  is  idolatry ;  and  again,  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  (v.  5),  the  covetous  man, — that  is, 
the  insatiable  and  greedy  man,  the  man  whom  there  is  no 
satisfying,  is  said  to  be  an  idolater.  It  matters  little  what 
the  man  is  greedy  of, — whether  he  is  greedy  of  money, 
or  whether  he  is  greedy  of  business,  or  whether  he  is 
greedy  of  land,  or  whether  he  is  greedy  of  meat  and 
drink,  or  whether  he  is  greedy  of  praise  and  honour  and  dis- 
tinction,— if  a  man  is  greedy  of  any  earthly  thing,  and  does 
not  know  when  he  has  had  enough,  and  is  ever  longing  and 
craving  after  it,  and  wishing  to  add  more  to  more,  the  sen- 
tence is  express  against  that  man :  St.  Paul  has  declared 
him  to  be  an  idolater.  The  reason  is  plain.  The  covetous 
and  greedy  man  has  given  that  place  in  his  heart  to  earthly 
things,  which  ought  to  be  kept  for  heavenly  things.  Instead 
of  considering  the  things  of  this  world  as  mere  necessaries, 
and  setting  the  prime  of  his  affections  on  things  above,  he 
looks  on  the  former  as  the  real  good  ;  whereas  our  Saviour 
has  told  us  that  there  is  none  really  good  but  one,  that  is, 


496  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 


God.  Perhaps  however  a  man  may  say,  What  does  it 
signify  whether  we  look  on  the  things  of  this  Ufe  as  neces- 
saries and  conveniences,  or  whether  we  deem  them  to  be 
really  goods  ?  I  answer,  it  signifies  very  much :  for  when 
we  want  anything,  food,  raiment,  furniture,  house,  lands, 
simply  because  such  things  are  necessary  and  convenient  to 
us,  it  is  easy  to  see  there  must  be  a  limit  to  our  want  some- 
where. Take  food,  for  instance.  If  a  man  eats  simply  because 
it  is  necessary  to  eat  in  order  to  support  life,  if  he  drinks  only 
to  satisfy  his  thirst,  it  is  clear  he  will  soon  be  satisfied.  He 
will  soon  have  eaten  and  drunk  enough ;  and  he  will  know 
when  he  has  had  enough,  and  will  not  wish  for  more.  He 
will  eat  and  drink  to  get  rid  of  his  hunger  and  thirst,  just 
as  he  washes  his  face  and  hands  to  refresh  himself  and  get 
rid  of  the  dirt.  No  man,  after  his  hands  have  been  washed 
quite  clean,  goes  on  rubbing  and  scrubbing  them  over  and 
over  again :  yet  many  a  greedy  man  will  go  on  eating  and 
drinking  after  he  has  had  his  fill.  Why  so?  Because 
greedy  men,  the  glutton  and  the  drunkard,  take  delight  in 
eating  and  drinking,  and  do  not  take  a  dehght  in  washing. 
They  wash,  like  rational  beings,  because  it  is  necessary  and 
wholesome  and  seemly ;  and  so  they  wash  enough,  and  no 
more.  They  eat  and  drink,  not  because  it  is  necessary,  but 
because  they  think  it  a  good  thing  :  they  take  a  pleasure  in 
it,  and  love  it ;  and  so  they  eat  and  drink  to  excess.  For  to 
that  which  is  good,  there  is  no  limit  in  the  heart  of  man  :  of 
that  we  can  never  have  enough.  Here  then  is  the  great 
difterence  between  seeking  a  thing,  because  it  is  necessary 
or  useful  to  us,  and  desiring  it  as  a  real  good.  In  the  one 
case  there  is  a  limit  to  our  wishes,  in  the  other  none.  In 
the  one  case  we  have  enough,  when  our  needs  are  satisfied  ; 
in  the  other  case  we  never  have  enough.  We  always  wish 
and  crave  and  pant  and  hunger  after  more :  and  such  crav- 
ing and  hungering  is  idolatrous.     It  is  mistaking  the  crea- 


IDOLATRY.  497 


ture  for  the  Creator,  and  misapplying  to  a  poor,  unworthy, 
mean,  and  perishable  thing,  those  infinite  yearnings  of  the 
heart  which  belong  of  right  to  the  Maker  and  Ruler  of  the 
universe.  He,  and  he  alone  is  infinite  :  therefore  he  alone 
is  worthy  of  being  loved  and  sought  for  with  all  our  bound- 
less longings  and  desires.  To  set  up  any  worldly  thing  as 
the  end  and  object  of  those  longings,  is  to  throw  away  on 
what  is  bounded  and  perishable,  the  worship  due  to  what  is 
infinite  and  eternal.  Therefore  it  is  as  plainly  and  certainly 
idolatry,  as  if  we  bowed  the  knee  to  Chemosh  or  to  Ashta- 
roth.  I  say,  the  worship :  because  longing  is  worship, 
desire  is  worship,  the  best  of  all  worship,  the  worship  of  the 
heart.  He  then  who  gives  his  heart  to  any  creature,  wor- 
ships it,  yea,  and  sacrifices  to  it  the  best  member  that  he 
has.  If  this  be  not  arrant  idolatry,  I  know  not  what  is.  I 
have  mentioned  the  greedy  desire  of  meat  and  drink,  partly 
because  everybody  must  know  what  that  means,  and  partly 
because  St.  Paul,  in  telling  us  of  people  whose  belly  is  their 
god,  has  brought  the  instance  home  to  our  present  purpose. 
But  what  is  true  of  greediness  of  food,  is  equally  true  of 
every  other  kind  of  greediness.  All  insatiable  longing 
after  earthly  things,  all  grasping  and  restless  striving, 
is  a  part  of  that  covetousness  which  is  idolatry.  The 
covetous  man  defiles  and  pollutes  his  heart,  which  is  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  Jews  defiled  and  polluted 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  by  setting  up  the  tables  of  the 
money-changers  in  it,  and  filling  it  with  buying  and  selling. 
Thus  does  the  covetous  man  fill  the  temple  of  his  heart  with 
busy  thoughts  of  money-getting  and  buying  and  selling.  He 
sets  up  the  abomination  of  gain  in  what  ought  to  be  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Most  High.  But -if  the  covetous  man  be 
an  idolater,  what  does  he  worship  ?  Our  Saviour  tells  us  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  where,  in  warning  his  disciples 
not  to  give  up  their  hearts  to  taking  thought  about  worldly 

K   K 


498  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

and  perishable  things,  he  uses  those  remarkable  words,  "  Ye 
cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon."  The  covetous  man  then 
serves  Mammon.  He  has  taken  Mammon  for  his  guide  and 
for  his  god :  and  so  he  directly  breaks  the  first  command- 
ment, which  forbids  us  to  have  any  god  except  the  God  of 
heaven. 

But  Mammon  is  not  the  only  heathen  god  whose  worship 
is  carried  on  in  the  hearts  of  Englishmen,  calling  themselves 
Christians,  and  Protestants  too,  at  this  day.  What  shall  we 
say  of  Belial,  the  fleshliest  spirit  that  ever  seduced  man  to 
sin  ?  He  is  the  god  of  lust,  of  riot,  of  uncleanness,  of  unruli- 
ness.  The  impure,  fornicators  and  adulterers,  lovers  of 
misrule  of  every  kind,  are  called  in  Scripture  sons  of  Belial, 
and  children  of  Belial;  just  as  the  pious  and  upright  are 
called  sons  of  God,  and  children  of  God.  Can  we  say  then 
that  there  are  no  children  of  BeHal,  no  worshippers  of 
Belial  now  in  England  ?  The  reports  of  our  courts  of  law 
prove  that  there  are  thousands  and  thousands ;  and  I  am 
afraid  that  those  who  are  brought  before  a  court  of  law,  are 
not  one  in  a  hundred.  Yet  every  such  worshipper  of  Belial 
is  plainly  guilty  of  idolatry,  and  is  living  in  the  open  breach 
of  the  first  and  great  commandment. 

Or  look  at  Moloch,  the  god  of  hatred  and  of  every  fierce 
passion  :  has  he  no  children,  no  worshippers  in  the  land  ? 
men  who  pay  him  the  service  he  is  best  pleased  with, — the 
service  of  an  envious,  rancorous,  malicious,  and  festered 
heart.  As  every  lustful  thought  and  impure  desire  is  an  act 
of  worship  to  Belial, — as  every  greedy  thought  and  covetous 
desire  is  an  act  of  worship  to  Mammon, — so  every  spiteful 
and  .revengeful  thought,  every  feeling  of  ill-will,  every  desire 
to  do  any  one  an  injury,  everything  like  pleasure  at  our 
neighbour's  hurt, — all  these  are  acts  of  worship  and  heart- 
service  to  tlie  hateful  and  cruel  Moloch.  Is  Moloch  then 
without  worshippers  in  England,  or  in  any  part  of  England, 


IDOLATRY.  499 


at  this  day?  Are  there  none  who  serve  him?  none  who 
serve  him  faithfully,  and  zealously,  and  constantly  ? 

Would,  my  brethren,  we  were  as  faithful  and  zealous  and 
constant  in  the  service  of  the  most  high  God,  as  too  many 
are, — as  all  perhaps  have  been  at  some  time  or  other, — in 
the  service  of  one  or  other  oi  these  idols !  Would  that  we 
only  gave  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  as  much  as  the 
worshippers  of  Moloch  and  Belial  and  Mammon  readily 
give  to  them  !  Then  should  we  give  God  everything  that 
he  requires.  We  should  give  him  our  hearts,  we  should  give 
him  our  thoughts,  we  should  give  him  our  time,  we  should 
give  him  our  labour  and  diligence.  With  all  these  do  we 
serve  the  idols  which  dare  to  rival  the  God  of  heaven,  the 
idol  of  hate,  the  idol  of  lust,  the  idol  of  covetousness.  These 
gods,  these  devils  rather,  have  no  scant  share  of  service  paid 
to  them.  For  them  their  votaries  are  eager  to  work.  To 
gratify  his  revenge,  to  gratify  his  unlawful  passions,  to  heap 
up  fresh  piles  of  riches,  a  man  will  plan,  and  toil,  and  risk 
money,  if  need  be,  and  will  even  deny  himself  in  many 
things.  Who  does  as  much  for  God  ?  Who  toils  as  much 
in  God's  service,  and  spends  as  much  thought  on  it,  and 
makes  as  many  sacrifices  for  it,  as  the  servants  of  sin  will 
often  to  pamper  their  sins  ?  Alas  !  all  the  while  they  are 
only  fattening  themselves  for  the  altar  of  wrath,  and  gather- 
ing the  fuel  that  is  to  consume  them. 

But  though  I  have  spoken  to  you  of  so  many  idols,  I 
have  still  to  mention  the  commonest  of  all,  the  idol  which 
has  the  most,  the  most  constant,  the  devoutest  worshippers ; 
which  reigns  indeed  in  every  heart,  unless  it  has  been  cast 
oat  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  idol,  my  brethren,  is  Self. 
Self  is  the  great  idol  of  all.  He  is  your  idol  and  mine,  and 
was  the  idol  of  our  fathers  before  us,  and  will  be  the  idol  of 
your  children  after  you,  when  you  are  sleeping  in  your  graves. 
Therefore  is  our  Saviour  so  urgent  on  us  in  many  places  to 


500  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

deny  ourselves :  because  he  knows  that  the  traitor,  Self,  has 
surprised  our  hearts,  and  fortified  himself  within  them,  as  in 
a  stronghold ;  so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  rid  of 
him,  unless  we  starve  him  out.  So  long  as  we  feed  him  and 
strengthen  him  by  gratifying  his  wilfulness  and  whims,  so 
long  will  he  continue  in  possession.  Nor  will  even  starving 
him  out  be  enough  of  itself,  unless  we  add  frequent  prayer 
thereto.  For  this  is  the  spirit  of  which  our  Lord  said,  that 
it  goeth  not  out,  except  by  prayer  and  fasting.  Mortify 
yourselves  therefore,  brethren  :  strive  to  cmsh  every  feeling 
within  3^ou,  that  would  lift  up  its  head  against  the  will  of 
God  :  strive  to  break  the  neck  of  your  own  will,  and  to  make 
it  bend  meekly  and  patiently  under  the  yoke  of  Christ. 
Above  all,  pray  heartily  and  frequently  to  God  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  he  will  come  and  set  up 
his  own  image  in  your  heart,  and  sprinkle  it  with  his  purify- 
ing blood,  and  hallow  it  with  his  sanctifying  Spirit. 


XLI. 
THE  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  COMMANDMENTS. 

Acts  x.  5. 
What  God  has  cleansed,  that  call  not  thou  common. 

T  HAVE  chosen  this  text  for  the  sake  of  saying  a  few 
■*■  words  to  you  about  the  third  and  fourth  command- 
ments, which  have  this  point  of  agreement,  that  they  both 
enjoin  us  to  reverence  and  hallow  things  appertaining  to 
God.  The  third  commandment  teaches  us  to  hallow  God's 
holy  name,  and  not  to  profane  it :  the  fourth  commandment 
teaches  us  to  hallow  God's  holy  day,  and  not  to  profane  it. 
The  reason  for  both  is  the  same,  namely,  that  the  things 
which  God  has  hallowed  by  uniting  them  to  himself,  we  are 
to  reckon  holy.  Be  it  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made, 
or  be  it  the  name  which  the  Lord  hath  chosen,  in  each  case 
it  is  the  Lord's.  He  has  been  pleased  to  set  it  apart  for 
himself :  he  has  made  it  sacred  and  cleansed  it :  therefore 
we  are  not  to  call  it  common ;  that  is,  we  are  not  to  make 
use  of  it  for  common  purposes  ;  we  are  not  to  treat  it  lightly 
and  as  a  common  thing.  We  are  to  set  a  distinction  and  a 
difference  between  the  Lord's  name  and  other  words,  between 
the  Lord's  day  and  other  days. 

But  if  we  are  to  reverence  God's  name,  and  not  to  pro- 
fane it,  because  it  is  the  name  of  God  Most  High, — if  we 


502  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


are  to  keep  the  sabbath-day  holy,  and  not  to  profane  it,  be- 
cause it  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  has  hallowed, — we  may 
be  sure  the  principle  does  not  stop  here.  Everything  else 
which  God  has  in  any  way  set  apart  for  his  own,  and  put 
his  mark  on, — everything  else  which  in  any  way  belongs  more 
peculiarly  to  him, — his  word,  his  ordinances,  his  house,  his 
people, — all  these,  you  will  see  after  a  moment's  thought, 
come  under  the  same  rule.  They  are  all  things  which  God 
has  cleansed ;  therefore  we  must  not  call  them  common. 
He  has  set  them  apart  for  his  own  service  :  he  has  fenced 
them  off,  as  it  were,  from  the  waste  of  the  world,  and  has 
enclosed  them  for  his  own  use.  Hence  there  is  the  same 
sort  of  difference  between  them  and  all  merely  worldly  and 
common  things,  as  there  is  between  a  garden  and  Salisbury 
Plain.  No  one  who  knows  how  to  behave  himself,  would 
bring  a  horse  into  a  garden,  or  walk  over  the  strawberry 
beds,  or  trample  down  the  flowers.  But  in  riding  from  here 
to  Salisbury  everybody  would  feel  himself  at  liberty,  while 
crossing  the  downs,  to  gallop  over  the  turf  at  pleasure. 
Well !  the  same  difference  which  there  is  between  common 
down  and  a  cultivated  garden,  the  same  is  there  also  between 
worldly  days,  worldly  books,  worldly  names,  worldly  people, 
and  God's  day,  God's  book,  God's  name,  and  God's  people. 
The  former  are  common,  and  may  be  treated  as  such :  the 
latter  are  not  common ;  because  God  has  taken  them  to 
himself,  and  brought  them  within  the  limits  of  his  sanctuary, 
and  thrown  the  safeguard  of  his  hohness  around  them.  In 
a  word,  they  belong  to  God,  and  therefore  are  not  to  be 
treated  as  if  they  belonged  to  man. 

It  is  true,  that  in  one  sense  everything  belongs  to  God. 
For  everything  was  made  by  him :  the  whole  earth  is  the 
Lord's,  and  all  that  is  therein.  In  this  view  of  the  matter 
every  day  may  be  called  the  Lord's  day,  as  well  as  Sunday : 
so  too  may  every  man  living  be  called  his,  as  well  as  the 


THE   THIRD    AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  503 

holiest  of  the  apostles.  All  m  this  sense  are  his ;  that  is, 
we  are  all  his  property  and  his  subjects  ;  because  he  is  the 
Maker  and  the  Ruler  of  everything  in  heaven  and  earth. 
Therefore  those  who  are  heartily  desirous  of  doing  right, 
and  of  giving  God  his  own  as  far  as  may  be,  would  never 
think  of  unhallowing  or  profaning  any  one  act  or  moment  of 
their  lives.  They  would  never  think  of  keeping  back  any 
part  of  their  time,  or  of  their  thoughts,  from  God's  service  ; 
because  they  know  that  he  has  a  right  to  every  part  of 
them,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  wholly  and  altogether  his. 
It  is  in  this  spirit  that  the  apostle  bids  us  pray  always.  He 
does  not  say,  Pray  when  you  get  up,  or,  when  you  go  to 
bed,  or,  when  you  go  to  church,  but  always.  In  like  manner 
he  enjoins  us  to  seek  God's  glory  in  the  smallest  things,  as 
well  as  in  the  greatest.  "  Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,"  (he  says,) 
''  or  whatever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  But  though 
all  this  be  so,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  some  things  may 
not  belong  to  God  more  nearly  and  peculiarly  than  others. 
Monday  for  example  belongs  to  God  as  well  as  Sunday  :  but 
it  does  not  belong  to  him  as  much  and  as  exclusively ;  for 
the  best  of  reasons, — because  he  has  not  been  pleased  to 
make  it  so.  He  is  by  right  the  master  and  owner  of  every- 
day in  the  week  equally  :  but  he  has  been  pleased  to  leave 
the  six  days  open  and  unenclosed  for  the  common  business 
of  life, — for  ploughing  and  sowing,  and  reaping,  and  harvest- 
ing, and  buying  and  selling ;  while  the  seventh  day  he  has 
thought  fit  to  reserve  for  himself,  and  has  set  it  apart  to  be 
employed  in  his  worship.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that, 
though  all  the  seven  days  are  equally  his  by  right,  yet  Sun- 
day by  his  appointment  is  more  entirely  and  peculiarly  his 
day  than  the  other  six.  What  is  true  of  Sundays  and  work- 
ing-days, is  equally  true  of  prayer.  Though  we  are  enjoined 
to  be  always  praying  in  a  maimer, — that  is,  we  are  to  keep 
a  sense  of  God's  power  and  goodness  always  alive  in  our 


504  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

minds,  and  are  to  look  up  to  him  for  help  in  whatever  we 
take  in  hand, — yet  we  are  not  to  be  always  offering  up 
prayers  on  our  knees.  The  good  Christian  will  live  in  such 
a  way,  that  his  whole  life  will  be  one  continual  prayer ;  yet 
on  the  other  hand  he  will  not  think  that  he  is  thereby 
excused  from  having  fixed  times  for  regular  prayer.  He  will 
pray  by  himself :  he  will  pray  with  his  family  :  he  will  pray 
with  his  fellow-Christians  in  the  house  of  God.  On  these 
occasions  the  feelings  of  devotion,  which  are  always  alive 
and  burning  in  his  heart,  will  blaze  up  into  a  flame,  and 
will  find  vent  in  words :  the  silent,  quiet,  habitual  piety  of 
every  day  and  every  hour  will  be  heightened  for  a  time  into 
open  adoration,  in  which  the  whole  man  will  be  given  up  to 
prayer;  "and  lips  and  thoughts,  heart  and  mind,  will  join  to 
entreat  a  blessing  from  the  Lord,  and  to  magnify  the  God 
of  his  salvation. 

In  a  word,  no  day,  no  action,  no  thought,  no  moment  of 
our  lives  ought  to  be  separate  from  God :  some  days,  how- 
ever, some  actions,  some  things  and  persons,  are  his  more 
entirely  and  more  directly  than  others ;  and  these  we  should 
reverence  and  hallow  above  the  rest.  Such  appears  to  be 
the  general  spirit  of  the  third  and  fourth  commandments. 
But  it  will  be  useful  to  take  a  nearer  view  of  them,  and  to 
see  what  each  of  them  more  particularly  enjoins  and  for- 
bids. 

We  will  begin  with  the  third  commandment,  "Thou  shalt 
not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain."  Now  what 
is  taking  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  vain  ?  That  is  the  first 
thing  to  be  made  out :  and  then  the  sense  of  the  command- 
ment will  be  clear.  To  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  vain, 
is  to  take  it  into  our  mouths  or  use  it  in  any  light  or  trifling 
or  unworthy  manner.  This  may  be  done  in  two  ways ; 
either  by  calHng  God  to  witness  to  a  lie, — for  lies  and  false- 
hoods of  all  kinds  are  in  many  places  of  Scripture  called 


THE   THIRD    AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  505 

vanity ;  or  else  it  may  be  done  by  using  that  holy  name  on 
small  and  irreverent  occasions;  for  light  and  empty  things 
are  also  called  vanity.  Whoever  then  calls  God  to  witness 
falsely,  takes  his  name  in  vain  :  and  whoever  uses  God's 
name  lightly  and  irreverently,  takes  it  in  vain.  What  I  have 
said  of  God's  name  will  of  course  apply  equally  to  Jesus 
Christ ;  for  he  is  God.  Indeed  it  applies  to  every  holy  and 
sacred  word  or  name.  So  that  all  false  swearing,  and  all 
idle  swearing  of  every  sort,  is  forbidden  by  this  command- 
ment. 

Of  the  wickedness,  the  utter  madness  of  swearing  falsely, 
and  calling  the  God  of  truth  to  witness  to  a  lie,  I  shall  say 
nothing  to  you.  False  swearing  has  never  been  the  vice  of 
Englishmen  :  and  they  who  wish  for  a  sermon  about  it,  may 
read  one  in  the  marketplace  at  Devizes.  The  shocking 
story  there  recorded,  of  the  wretched  woman  who  forswore 
herself,  and  fell  down  dead,  is  proof  enough  that  our  God  is 
neither  blind  nor  deaf,  and  that  he  will  not  suffer  himself  to 
be  mocked,  or  his  name  to  be  invoked  falsely.  True,  he 
does  not  always  strike  at  the  instant,  as  he  did  then  :  but 
woe  to  that  head  over  which  the  blow  of  God's  wrath  keeps 
hanging,  only  to  fall  on  it  in  the  next  world  with  a  weight 
of  punishment  insupportable  ! 

Though  false  swearing,  however,  I  would  fain  hope,  is  not 
a  common  vice  among  Englishmen,  idle  and  profane  swear- 
ing is  so,  and  that  to  a  very  great  and  strange  degree.  I 
call  it  a  strange  degree ;  because  it  surely  is  strange  that  a 
sin,  to  which  the  temptations  are  so  trifling,  a  sin  which 
yields  neither  profit  nor  pleasure,  should  meet  one  at  every 
step  in  a  christian  land.  Go  into  the  streets  of  any  town,  go 
to  any  place  where  a  number  of  persons  have  got  together ; 
and  whether  they  are  working,  or  whether  they  are  playing, 
whether  they  are  angry,  or  whether  they  are  merry,  you  can 
hardly  pass  by  a  knot  of  half-a-dozen  Englishmen,  let  them 


5o6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

be  doing  what  they  may,  without  having  your  ears  wounded 
by  some  vain  and  wicked  oath  or  curse.  But  why  do  I  say 
a  knot  of  Englishmen  ?  when  you  all  know  that  a  man  does 
not  need  company  to  swear  in.  Wherever  there  is  a  mouth 
to  swear  with,  you  are  but  too  likely  to  hear  swearing.  A 
man  will  swear  at  a  horse,  at  a  dog,  at  a  bat,  at  a  spade  : 
for  everything,  and  for  nothing,  many  an  Englishman  will 
swear.  Now  is  not  this  strange  ?  May  I  not  call  it  strange  ? 
Does  it  not  seem  strange  to  you,  my  brethren,  in  your  cooler 
moments,  that  among  Christians, — among  a  people  who 
know  that  God  himself  has  forbidden  them  to  swear, — 
among  a  people  who  call  themselves  Christians,  and  would 
be  very  angry  if  I  told  them  they  were  not  Christians, — is 
it  not  passing  strange  that  among  such  a  people, — who  have 
been  taught  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  to  pray  always,  and 
to  swear  never, — there  should  be  so  little  praying  and  so 
much  swearing  ?  Truly  an  Indian,  on  first  coming  amongst 
us,  might  be  led  to  fancy  us  the  godliest  people  in  the 
the  world,  from  hearing  the  sacred  names  of  God  and  Christ 
at  every  corner  of  every  street.  He  might  say  to  himself, 
"  What  a  holy,  what  a  pious  people  this  must  be  !  Every 
third  man  I  fall  in  with  is  praying."  But  when  he  had  been 
a  while  longer  in  the  country,  and  had  grown  better  used  to 
our  customs,  and  had  found  out  that  this  praying,  as  he 
fancied  it, — this  invoking  and  uttering  and  repeating  of  the 
most  sacred  names  on  every  occasion, — was  all  swearing, 
what  would  he  think  of  us  then  ?  Would  he  not  begin  to 
think  us  most  daringly  impious  and  profane  ?  profane,  for 
using  the  most  sacred  words  in  such  a  light  and  careless 
manner  :  daringly  impious,  for  calHng  the  all-powerful  Ruler 
of  the  universe  to  look  down  from  his  throne  above  the 
heavens,  to  witness — what?  a  petty  dispute  .  .  a  trifling 
accident  .  .  a  jest.  Truly  these  are  things  well  worthy  the 
notice  of  the  King  of  heaven,  that  we  should  call  on  him  by 


THE   THIRD    AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  507 

name  to  look  down  from  his  throne  of  glory  and  behold 
them. 

I  am  well  aware,  that  many  a  man  has  gone  on  swearing 
year  after  year,  without  ever  thinking  seriously  about  the 
matter.  He  may  have  fallen  into  the  habit  when  he  was 
very  young  :  perhaps  he  may  have  caught  it  from  his  father : 
or  he  may  have  learnt  it  at  school,  or  when  at  work  with 
other  lads  older  and  wickeder  than  himself :  hearing  them 
swear,  he  may  have  thought  it  a  fine  manly  thing  to  do  so 
too  :  and  thus  in  course  of  time  the  trick  of  swearing  may 
have  grown  upon  him,  until  he  hardly  knows  when  he  is 
guilty  of  it.  But  whether  we  know  it,  or  whether  we  know 
it  not,  whether  we  do  it  thinkingly  or  thoughtlessly,  a  sin  it 
is  most  assuredly  and  most  clearly  :  for  it  is  a  plain  breach 
of  one  of  God's  commandments.  Nor  do  I  know,  when  a 
man  is  called  to  account  for  this  his  sin  at  the  bar  of  God's 
judgment-seat,  that  he  will  much  mend  the  matter  by  plead- 
ing, that  he  had  been  guilty  of  it  so  often,  at  last  it  became 
a  second  nature  to  him,  and  he  got  to  swear  ever  and  anon 
without  so  much  as  intending  it.  For  God  perhaps  may 
ask  him  in  return,  "How  camest  thou  by  that  nature?" 
What  will  the  swearer  answer  to  such  a  question  ?  He 
cannot  say,  that  God  gave  him  this  nature.  He  cannot  say, 
that  his  tongue  was  made  to  curse  and  swear,  rather  than  to 
bless  and  pray.  He  cannot  even  say,  that  he  did  not  know 
better.  For  every  one  knows  that  swearing  is  wrong.  What 
answer  then  can  the  swearer  make  to  God's  just  and  search- 
ing question,  "How  camest  thou  by  that  nature?"  He  must 
remain  speechless,  like  the  man  who  came  to  the  marriage- 
feast  without  having  on  a  wedding  garment.  You  all  know 
the  sentence  which  was  pronounced  against  him  :  "  Bind  him 
hand  and  foot,  and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness." 

But  though  every  man  must  know  swearing  to  be  wrong, 
many,  I  would  fain  hope,  can  never  have  thought  of  it  as 


508  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

an  open  breach  of  God's  commandments  :  many,  I  would 
fain  hope,  if  they  did  so  think,  would  not  be  guilty  of  it. 
They  swear,  as  I  said  just  now,  from  habit :  and  unluckily 
no  habit  is  formed  more  easily,  none,  when  formed,  is 
harder  to  break.  Therefore  let  me  beg  those,  who  have 
not  yet  fallen  into  this  most  foolish  and  sinful  habit, — let 
me  entreat  all  those,  whose  consciences  are  not  yet  so 
hardened  and  blunted,  that  they  can  take  the  names  of  their 
God  and  Saviour  into  their  mouths  without  knowing  it, — let 
me  beg  and  entreat  all  such  persons  to  beware  how  they 
entangle  themselves  in  a  besetting  sin,  from  which,  if  they 
once  fall  into  it,  they  may  never  be  able  to  get  free  again. 
You  are  still  safe,  I  would  say  to  all  such,  if  you  will  only 
keep  so.  Your  hearts  are  still  soft :  why  harden  them  ? 
Why  run  with  your  eyes  open  into  the  devil's  snare  ?  Why 
find  a  pleasure,  against  nature  and  against  grace,  in  learning 
to  break  one  of  God's  commandments,  and  to  take  his  holy 
name  in  vain  ?  Let  me  entreat  all  parents  too,  who  value 
the  salvation  of  their  children,  to  check  the  first  beginnings 
of  this  evil  practice  in  them.  Stop  them  at  the  first  profane 
word.  Shew  them  how  foolish,  how  unmeaning,  how  sinful 
it  is.  Should  they  fancy  it  manly,  teach  them  what  tme 
manliness  is, — that  there  is  no  manliness  in  doing  wTong, 
but  in  doing  right, — that  the  true  manly  part  is  not  to 
follow  others  in  their  evil  ways,  but  to  act  up  to  what  we 
know  to  be  our  duty,  not  suffering  ourselves  to  be  blown 
out  of  the  straight  path  by  the  gust  of  evil  example,  but 
keeping  our  footing  and  our  course  right  onward,  as  we 
may  do  in  spite  of  all  the  evil  example  in  the  world,  if  we 
will  only  pray  to  God  for  his  help.  In  his  might  we  may 
all  be  made  strong  enough  to  stand  the  buffet  of  a  real 
temptation,  much  more  to  keep  our  ground  against  a  sin, 
which  we  can  neither  plead  any  inclination  to,  nor  excuse 
by  any  natural  infirmity, — a  sin  therefore  easily  checked,  if 
we  are  only  watchful  to  stop  it  at  the  outset. 


THE   THIRD   AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  509 

To  those  who  have  already  formed  the  habit  of  swearing, 
to  those  who  are  already  in  the  snare,  and  feel  the  weight 
of  evil  custom  clinging  to  their  tongue, — what  shall  I  say  to 
them  ?  I  will  say  to  them,  Your  sin,  I  would  hope,  began 
in  carelessness :  try  if  you  cannot  cure  it  by  becoming 
watchful.  In  all  your  prayers  make  it  a  special  petition 
that  the  Lord  will  put  a  watch  before  your  mouth,  and  will 
keep  the  door  of  your  lips.  I  do  not  say  that  even  by  this 
means  a  deeply-rooted  habit  can  be  weeded  out  in  a  few 
weeks.  Look  at  a  field  which  has  been  long  neglected. 
You  all  know  how  very  difficult  it  is  to  get  it  clean.  It  is 
not  a  single  ploughing,  nor  a  single  turnip-crop,  nor  a 
single  hoeing,  that  will  do.  Yet  there  is  not  a  field  in  all 
England  which  has  been  neglected  half  so  much  as  the  soul 
of  the  habitual  swearer.  It  must  needs  take  time  therefore 
to  root  the  habit  out  of  him ;  and  nothing  but  care  and 
time  with  God's  blessing  will  do  it.  But  if  a  man  prays 
against  the  habit,  his  conscience  after  a  time  will  be 
awakened :  he  will  no  longer  take  God's  name  in  vain 
without  thinking  of  it.  By  degrees  he  will  get  to  check  the 
rising  oath  :  and  at  last  his  tongue  will  unlearn  its  swearing, 
and  be  ready  only  for  blessing  and  for  prayer.  Happy, 
happy  man  in  that  case !  yea,  happy,  as  he  now  is 
miserable  !  He  will  have  gained  the  greatest  of  all  vic- 
tories, a  victory  over  himself  He  will  have  broken  through 
the  snare  in  which  the  Evil  One  held  him,  and  will  have 
gained  a  deliverance  from  the  most  fearful  peril.  Instead 
of  the  language  of  devils,  he  will  have  learnt  the  language 
of  angels,  and  even  in  this  world  will  speak  the  words  of 
heaven. 

As  the  third  commandment  commands  us  to  hallow 
God's  holy  name,  so  does  the  fourth  connnand  us  to  hallow 
his  holy  day.  How  ?  By  abstaining  from  all  manner  of 
work.     "  Six  days  shall  ye  labour,  and  do  all  that  ye  have 


510  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


to  do  :  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  sabbath  of  the  Lord  your 
God  :  in  it  ye  shall  do  no  manner  of  work."  The  curse  of 
labour,  under  which  man  was  to  earn  and  eat  his  bread,  was 
taken  off  for  one  day  in  seven  for  all  ranks  and  classes  of 
mankind,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  nay  even  for  the  beasts 
of  the  field,  which  man  employs  in  his  service.  Think  a  little 
what  a  blessing  this  is  to  the  poor,  that  God  by  express 
command  has  kept  one  day  out  of  every  seven  for  them,  on 
which  they  are  to  rest  from  their  toil, — a  day  on  which 
their  masters  have  no  claim  on  their  services,  and  are 
bound  to  require  nothing  from  them,  beyond  what  is  abso- 
lutely needful.  This,  I  say,  is  a  very  great  blessing  to  the 
poor  j  and  loving  the  poor,  as  my  master  Christ  has  taught 
me  to  do,  most  heartily  do  I  thank  God  for  it.  For  where- 
ever  Sunday  is  kept  as  it  should  be,  there  the  poor  cannot 
be  entirely  ground  down  :  they  cannot  be  made  slaves  of, 
as  they  have  been  in  so  many  heathen  countries.  They 
have  one  day  in  seven  which  they  can  call  their  own, — a 
day  on  which  the  distinction  between  master  and  servant  is, 
comparatively  speaking,  laid  aside,  and  we  all  meet  to- 
gether in  the  house  of  God  as  brethren  and  as  fellow-Chris- 
tians. This  great  blessing  and  privilege  the  poor  owe  to 
God  and  to  his  religion. 

But  God  does  not  bestow  his  blessings  on  the  poor  alone, 
though  it  not  seldom  happens  that  the  poor  come  in  for  the 
largest  share  of  them.  The  blessed  rest  of  God's  holy  day 
is  appointed  not  only  for  the  poor,  but  also  for  the  rich,  if 
they  will  only  let  it  be  so.  It  is  a  day  for  the  poor  to  rest 
from  the  work  of  their  hands  :  it  is  a  day  for  the  rich  to  rest 
from  the  work  of  their  heads,  from  the  anxieties  of  worldly 
thoughts,  from  the  troubles  and  cares  of  business.  Only 
too  many  of  them  will  not  enter  into  this  rest.  They  have 
been  walking  so  long  through  the  rough  places  of  the  earth, 
that,  when  they  come  home,  the  mud  is  sticking  to  their 


THE   THIRD    AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  511 

shoes,  and  the  burs  and  brambles  to  their  clothes;  and 
they  have  grown  so  used  to  them  that  they  feel  quite  un- 
comfortable if  they  are  taken  off.  So  besotted  are  many 
persons  with  the  love  of  the  world,  that,  instead  of  flinging 
all  its  cares  away  from  them,  in  order  that  they  may  enjoy 
the  blessed  rest  oi  the  Sunday,  they  set  apart  their  Sunday 
for  looking  over  and  casting  up  their  accounts.  Though 
they  cannot  blow  or  stir  the  fire  in  Mammon's  furnace,  they 
are  determined  at  all  events  to  snuff  in  its  smoke. 

God,  my  brethren,  has  called  us  away  altogether  from  the 
service  of  Mammon  on  the  Sunday.  On  this  day,  he  has 
said,  ye  shall  be  wholly  mine  :  Mammon  shall  have  no  part 
in  you.  But  when  he  called  us  away  from  the  service  of 
Mammon,  it  was  not  that  we  should  pass  from  it  to  the 
service  of  Belial,  or  to  the  service  of  Moloch.  We  are  to 
rest  on  the  sabbath-day  from  all  manner  of  work,  not  merely 
from  all  work  in  the  service  of  Mammon,  but  also  from  all 
work  in  the  service  of  Belial,  and  in  the  service  of  Moloch. 
Yet  how  many  spend  the  rest  of  the  holy  sabbath  in  drink- 
ing and  gaming,  and  all  manner  of  revelling,  the  natural  end 
of  which  is  quarrels  and  brawls  !  How  many,  after  coming 
to  church  in  the  morning,  go  and  pass  their  evening  at  the 
alehouse,  thus  shewing  that  the  worship  they  have  been  pre- 
tending to  offer  up  to  God,  has  been  nothing  but  a  shameful 
mockery  !  How  many  squander  the  chief  part  of  the  day  at 
the  alehouse,  without  coming  to  church  at  all !  Sooth  to 
say,  I  verily  believe,  there  is  more  drunkenness,  more  swear- 
ing, more  rioting,  more  licentiousness  of  all  kinds  in  England 
on  a  Sunday,  than  on  any  other  day  of  the  week. 

Now  how  does  all  this  come  to  pass  ?  In  other  words, 
what  is  the  reason  that  in  this  christian  land  Sunday,  instead 
of  being  kept  holier  than  other  days,  should  by  so  many 
persons  be  kept  as  the  most  unholy  day  of  all  the  seven  ? 
The  reason  is,  that,  whereas  God  ordained  Sunday  to  be  a 


512  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

day  of  rest,  the  world  has  turned  it  into  a  day  of  idleness : 
and  idleness  is  ever  the  fruitful  mother  of  vices.  Sunday, 
however,  is  not  meant  to  be  a  day  of  idleness.  It  is  a  day 
of  rest  from  the  labours  of  the  world,  in  order  that  it  may  be 
a  day  holy  to  God,  that  it  may  be  given  up  altogether  to  his 
service,  that  it  may  be  employed  in  learning  his  will,  in  pray- 
ing to  him,  and  in  praising  him. 

And  here  I  would  remind  you  how  all  God's  command- 
ments hang  together ;  how  they  are  knit  and  woven  together 
like  a  fine  web,  wherein  you  cannot  loosen  a  single  stitch, 
without  danger  of  unravelling  the  whole.  We  know  from 
St.  James  (ii.  lo),  that  "  whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law, 
and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all."  This  he  is, 
even  if  he  were  to  keep  all  the  rest  of  the  law.  But  can  any 
one  do  this  ?  Can  any  one  be  sure  that,  while  he  breaks 
the  law  in  one  point,  he  shall  be  able  to  keep  all  the  rest  of 
it  ?  So  far  from  this,  that,  if  a  man  lives  in  the  breach  of 
any  one  of  God's  commandments,  if  he  allows  himself  to 
indulge  in  any  one  sin,  none  can  tell  where  he  will  stop. 
There  is  no  letting  any  one  devil  into  our  souls  without  the 
risk  of  his  going  and  fetching  seven  other  devils  wickeder 
than  himself :  and  the  purer  the  house  may  hitherto  have 
been,  the  more  eager  will  they  be  to  come  and  lodge  in  it. 
Thus  was  it  when  David  allowed  himself  to  look  with  impure 
eyes  upon  Bathsheba :  the  lust  of  the  eye  led  to  adultery ; 
and  adultery  led  on  to  murder.  You  know  how  weeds 
spread,  how  soon  they  run  to  seed,  and  how  a  score  may 
spring  up  from  the  seed  of  a  single  one.  So  it  is  with  vices. 
They  too  shed  their  seed,  and  increase  and  multiply  in  such 
a  way,  that  a  man  who  is  indulging  in  any  one  evil  practice 
now,  will  be  most  fortunate  if  he  has  not  a  couple  such  by 
this  time  twelvemonth,  and  half-a-dozen  more  the  year  after. 
Now  of  all  the  commandments,  the  one  that  people  are  the 
aptest  to  make  light  of,  and  to  begin  by  breaking,  is  this  one 


THE    THIRD   AND    FOURTH    COMMANDMENTS.  513 

which  commands  us  to  keep  the  sabbath  holy.  Those  who 
would  think  it  a  shameful  thing  to  lie  or  to  steal,  those  who 
would  think  it  a  horrible  thing  to  commit  murder  or  adultery, 
young  lads  more  especially,  will  idle  about  on  Sunday,  and 
waste  the  precious  hours  which  God  has  given  them  to  learn 
his  will,  and  to  pray  to  him  for  strength  that  they  may  do  it. 
They  know  not  what  they  are  doing.  They  think  there  is 
little  harm  in  this.  All  those  shortsighted,  worldly-minded 
persons  too,  who  look  no  further  than  the  immediate  out- 
ward consequences  of  an  action,  cannot  see  much  harm  in 
it.  "  Poor  lads  !  "  (they  will  say,)  "  they  have  been  hard  at 
work  all  the  week  :  why  should  not  they  have  the  Sunday  to 
amuse  themselves?"  And  yet  this  one  fault, — let  me  rather 
say,  this  one  sin,  of  sabbath-breaking,  has  been  the  mother 
of  thousands  and  thousands  of  crimes.  Half  the  criminals, 
whose  lives  pay  the  forfeit  of  their  oftences,  half  the  criminals 
who  end  their  days  on  the  gallows,  begin  their  career  of 
wickedness  with  breaking  the  sabbath.  By  keeping  away 
from  church,  they  deprive  themselves  of  all  instruction : 
they  gradually  lose  all  knowledge  and  all  fear  of  God  :  they 
cease  to  pray  for  his  help,  and  so  they  are  left  without  help  : 
temptation  comes  upon  temptation ;  they  fall  from  one 
wickedness  to  another;  until  at  length  even  in  this  world 
justice  overtakes  them,  and  gives  them  over  to  a  shameful 
death. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  by  endeavouring  heartily  and 
diligently  to  keep  the  whole  of  God's  law  in  all  its  breadth 
and  fullness,  that  we  shall  best  gain  strength  to  keep  any  one 
part  of  it.  For  all  the  commandments  support  and  uphold 
and  strengthen  each  other,  and  form  a  fence  round  such  as 
continue  within  them,  through  which  the  fouler  temptations 
can  hardly  enter.  When  a  man  strives  thus  to  serve  God 
with  his  whole  heart,  God  will  grant  such  a  man  grace  to 
serve  him  better  and  better.     Him  who  is  faithful,  if  he  be 

L   L 


514  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

in  truth  faithful,  in  a  little,  he  will  enable  to  be  faithful  in 
more.  While  they  who  break  the  sabbath  lose  the  know- 
ledge and  the  fear  of  God,  and  are  hurried  on  from  one 
wickedness  to  another,  they  who  hallow  God's  holy  day, 
they  who  spend  it  reverently  and  devoutly,  in  learning  his 
will,  and  in  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  will  grow  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  will  increase  in  his  love,  and  will  be  enabled 
to  mount  from  grace  to  grace.  Thus  will  their  earthly 
sabbaths  prepare  and  fit  them  for  worshipping  and  serving 
him  hereafter  in  the  everlasting  rest  of  the  blessed,  in  the 
eternal  sabbath  of  heaven. 


XLII. 


THE  GOOD  OF  THE  COMMANDMENTS  OF  THE  SECOND 
TABLE. 


Deuteronomy  vi.  24. 

The  Lord  commanded  us  to  do  all  these  statutes,  to  fear  the 
Lord  our  God,  for  our  good  always,  that  he  might  preserve  us 
alive,  as  at  this  day. 

T  N  my  last  two  sermons  I  have  spoken  to  you  of  the  first 
four  commandments,  which  make  up  what  is  commonly 
called  the  first  table  of  the  law.  It  is  so  called,  because  the 
commandments  given  to  Moses  were  engraved  on  two  tables 
of  stone.  On  the  first  table  were  engraved  the  first  four 
commandments,  which  relate  to  our  duty  toward  God, — that 
we  are  to  have  no  other  gods  but  him  only, — that  we  are  to 
abstain  from  every  kind  of  idol-worship,  —  that  we  are  to 
reverence  his  name  and  his  day,  and  to  honour  them,  and 
keep  them  holy.  These  are  the  commandments  of  the  first 
table,  which  contains  our  duty  to  God.  Were  we  all  so 
many  hermits,  made  to  live  each  by  himself,  having  no  ties 
or  dealings  with  other  men,  the  first  table  of  the  law  would 
perhaps  have  been  sufficient ;  as  in  that  case  man  would 
have  owed  no  duties,  except  to  God  only.  God  however 
did  not  form  men  to  live  alone,  but  to  live  together  in 
society.  A  man  can  hardly  contrive,  even  if  he  wishes  it, 
to  withdraw  himself  altogether  from  the  fellowship  of  his 


5l6  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

brother  men.  A  man  can  hardly  say  to  himself,  "  I  will  live 
quite  alone."  Look  at  the  state  in  which  we  come  into  the 
world.  Every  man  is  born  a  member  of  some  family.  Every 
man  is  born  subject  to  some  government.  For  the  greater 
part  of  men  are  born  with  the  necessity  of  betaking  them- 
selves, when  they  grow  up,  to  some  trade  or  calling  for  their 
livelihood.  Even  the  few  who  can  afford  to  live  without  a 
profession,  must  have  estates  or  property  of  some  kind  to 
look  after  :  and  the  care  of  that  property,  the  business  which 
must  needs  arise  out  of  it,  cannot  but  bring  them  into  con- 
tact with  their  fellow-men.  Thus  has  God  in  the  order  of 
liis  providence  united  every  man  to  his  fellows  by  a  triple 
tie, — by  the  tie  of  family, — by  the  tie  of  country, — and  lastly, 
by  the  tie  of  necessity  for  all  who  are  not  very  rich,  and  by 
the  tie  of  interest  for  those  who  are.  We  are  all  twined 
together  and  interwoven,  as  it  were,  into  one  great  web  or 
network  of  society,  like  the  threads  of  flax,  or  the  locks  of 
wool,  in  a  piece  of  linen  or  broadcloth ;  and  this  without 
any  choice  of  ours.  Nobody  is  asked  whether  he  will  be 
bom  in  a  cottage  or  in  the  house  of  a  lord.  Nobody  is 
asked  whether  he  will  be  born  in  England,  or  among  the 
savages  abroad.  Nobody  is  asked  whether  he  chooses  to 
come  into  the  world  to  earn  a  livelihood  by  his  labour,  or 
whether  he  would  rather  enter  it  as  the  heir  to  a  great  estate. 
But  if  we  do  not  come  into  the  world  by  our  own  choice, 
nor  pick  out  the  place  we  are  to  fill  in  it,  by  whose  choice 
and  determination  are  we  sent  here,  some  to  fill  a  higher 
station,  some  a  lower  ?  Plainly,  my  brethren,  it  must  be  by 
God's  determination.  He  alone  settles  beforehand  in  what 
rank  and  station  we  are  to  be  born :  he  no  more  consults  us, 
or  allows  us  to  have  a  choice  about  the  matter,  than  the 
weaver  allows  his  wool  or  flax  to  have  a  choice  as  to  what 
piece  of  cloth  they  shall  be  put  into.  Some  are  destined 
to  coarser  purposes,  some  to  finer,  but  all  according  to  the 


THE    GOOD    OF    THE    COJiMANDIMENTS.  517 

judgment  of  the  weaver,  without  any  choice  or  will  of 
theirs.  So  it  is  with  us.  In  weaving  the  great  web  of  human 
life  and  society,  the  heavenly  workmaster  has  not  made  it 
all  of  one  quality.  Some  parts  are  finer,  some  coarser  :  and 
in  some  places  the  coarse  threads  and  the  fine  are  so  won- 
derfully intermingled  and  twisted  together,  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  part  them  without  tearing  the  whole  to  pieces. 
In  like  manner  will  it  be,  if  the  attempt  is  ever  made  to 
separate  the  rich  and  poor  in  England.  Everything  which 
has  hitherto  made  up  the  beauty  and  glory  and  strength  and 
comfort  of  this  nation,  will  be  rent  to  tatters  in  the  struggle, 
and  will  be  as  utterly  destroyed,  as  a  piece  of  fine  cloth 
would  be,  if  a  man  were  mischievous  enough  to  pick  out 
and  separate  the  Saxon  wool  in  it  from  the  EngHsh.  Saxon 
or  English,  it  is  all  wrought  up  into  one  cloth,  and  cannot 
now  be  separated  :  and  so  it  is  with  the  network  of  society. 
Rich  and  poor  have  all  been  woven  up  together,  and  an 
attempt  to  sever  the  one  from  the  other,  unless  it  be  stopped 
in  time,  would  end  in  the  ruin  of  both. 

Hitherto  I  have  been  shewing  you,  how  we  are  all  sent 
into  the  world,  not  to  live  by  ourselves,  or  for  ourselves,  but 
to  be  connected  and  united  with  our  fellow-creatures  in 
divers  ways,  first  as  members  of  the  same  family,  then  as 
subjects  of  the  same  government,  and  lastly  as  dwellers  in 
the  same  neighbourhood,  where, — whether  we  work  with 
our  own  hands,  or  employ  others  to  work  for  us, — we  are 
all  dependent  one  upon  another.  Such  is  the  state  every 
man  is  born  in  :  and  out  of  that  state  has  arisen  an  answer- 
ing set  of  duties.  Had  we  been  made  to  live  alone,  we 
should  only  have  owed  duty  to  God.  But  being  made  to  live 
together  in  society,  we  likewise  owe  duties  to  society.  We 
owe  a  duty  to  our  family :  we  owe  a  duty  to  our  sovereign : 
we  owe  a  duty  to  every  one,  rich  or  poor,  with  whom  we 
may  have  any  business  or  dealings  of  whatever  kind.     This 


5lS  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


second  set  of  duties  arising  out  of  our  being  made  to  live 
together  in  society,  is  commonly  called  our  duty  toward 
our  neighbour.  The  heads  of  these  duties  are  set  down  in 
the  second  table  of  the  commandments,  just  as  the  heads  of 
our  duty  toward  God  are  set  down  in  the  first  table. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  are  set  down  there, 
— that  the  heads  of  our  duties  toward  our  neighbours  were 
proclaimed  in  the  ears  of  the  children  of  Israel  by  the  voice 
of  God  himself.  For  so  dependent  are  we  on  each  other's 
behaviour  for  peace  and  happiness,  and  even  for  life  itself, 
that,  were  a  people  ever  to  break  loose  from  God's  com- 
mandments, and  to  throw  off  the  restraints  of  laws,  and  to 
take  to  living  every  one  as  he  pleased,  following  the  rule  of 
might,  instead  of  right, — there  would  be  neither  happiness, 
nor  quiet,  nor  comfort, — in  fact,  there  would  be  no  living 
among  such  a  people.  You  have  all  heard  the  sad  story  in 
the  Gospel  of  the  man  who  was  possessed  by  a  legion  of 
devils ;  and  you  may  perhaps  remember  how  it  fared  with 
him, — that  he  was  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  no  man  could 
pass  that  way  for  fear  of  him  ;  nor  could  any  one  tame  him  ; 
but  day  and  night  he  wandered  about  far  from  any  home, 
and  cutting  himself  with  stones.  Now  the  state  of  a  people 
so  madly  frantic  as  to  throw  off  all  regard  to  God's  com- 
mandments, would  not  be  unlike  the  state  of  this  poor  un- 
happy wretch.  Like  him  they  would  be  possessed  by  a  legion 
of  evil  passions  and  evil  spirits.  Like  him  they  would  be 
untamably  wild  and  fierce,  ready  to  harm  and  maltreat  every 
one  who  came  in  their  way.  Like  him  they  would  be  with- 
out a  home :  for  how  could  such  a  blessed  thing  as  home 
exist,  without  the  safeguards  of  justice  and  purity  and  reli- 
gion ?  Like  him  lastly,  they  would  be  for  ever  hurting  and 
paining  and  grieving  themselves  and  one  another.  All 
these  evils  came  upon  the  unhappy  wretch  in  the  New 
Testament,  because  the  devils  had  taken  possession  of  him. 
Yet  they  possessed  only  his  body  and  his  mind  :  for  it  does 


THE  GOOD  OF  THE  COMMANDMENTS.        519 

not  appear  that  the  demoniacs,  as  they  are  called,  were 

wicked  men ;  but  only  that  they  were  driven  mad  by  the 
power  of  some  evil  spirit.  Can  we  doubt  then  that  miseries, 
at  least  equal  to  his,  would  overtake  a  people  such  as  I 
have  been  speaking  of,  a  people  that  had  thrown  off  all 
regard  to  God's  commandments,  and  had  given  itself  up  to 
work  iniquity  with  greediness,  and  so  had  invited  a  host  of 
devils  to  come  and  take  possession  of  their  souls  ?  For 
this  must  follow.  Man  must  have  one  master  or  other. 
He  must  serve  some  higher  power.  If  he  will  not  serve 
God,  the  holy  and  the  merciful,  whose  wages  is  everlasting 
life,  he  must  go  into  servitude  to  sin  and  Satan,  whose 
wages  is  misery  and  death.  Therefore  if  a  man  or  any 
number  of  men,  throw  off  the  yoke  of  God's  command- 
ments, they  do  not  become  independent  thereby,  what- 
ever they  m.ay  fancy.  They  only  change  one  master 
and  one  yoke  for  another  master  and  another  yoke. 
They  only  leave  the  service  of  God,  and  shake  off  the 
easy  yoke  of  righteousness,  to  enter  into  the  service 
of  the  devil,  and  to  bend  their  necks  under  the  grievous 
yoke  of  sin.  Were  a  people  to  break  away  from  God's 
commandments  in  the  way  I  have  been  supposing,  they 
would  by  that  very  act  make  themselves  over  to  Satan ; 
and  so  we  should  have  a  people  whose  very  souls  were 
possessed  by  a  legion  of  evil  spirits.  Think  then,  what  they 
must  suffer.  Think,  what  passions  they  would  be  a  prey 
to.  Think,  how  they  would  be  racked  and  tormented  and 
torn  this  way  and  that  by  a  thousand  desires,  too  wild  and 
fierce  to  be  gratified,  and  which,  even  if  they  could  be 
gratified,  would  yield  them  no  contentment.  Think  again 
of  the  fears  that  would  be  ever  haunting  them, — fears  of 
losing  everything  they  prized  in  the  world.  For  in  a  country 
so  wicked  there  would  be  no  safety.  No  one  would  be  able 
to  feel  safe  at  his  house,  or  that  his  wife  or  his  daughters 
might  not  be  taken  away  from  him  before  evening.     And 


520  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


lawful  redress  for  such  injuries  there  could  be  none  among 
a  people  with  whom  might  made  right. 

Such  would  be  the  state  of  a  people  living  without  the 
second  table  of  the  law  of  Moses,  or  something  at  least 
answering  thereto.  I  do  not  ask  you  whether  it  would  be 
a  happy  one.  This  is  a  question  you  can  both  put  and 
answer  for  yourselves.  You  all  know  'what  alarm  and  dis- 
tress and  confusion  in  a  neighbourhood  a  single  murder,  a 
single  rape,  a  single  robbery,  when  attended  by  any  out- 
rageous violence,  is  sure  to  occasion.  What  then  must  be 
the  misery  of  a  land,  which  was  full  of  murder,  of  blood,  of 
outrage,  of  oppression,  of  violence  and  crime  of  every  sort ! 
It  would  be  a  hell  upon  earth.  And  no  wonder :  for  it 
would  be  the  devil's  land;  and  where  the  devil  is,  there 
must  be  hell  also.     He  would  make  a  hell  even  of  heaven. 

It  was  to  save  his  people  from  this  manifold  misery,  that 
God  gave  them  the  commandments  contained  in  the  second 
table  of  the  law,  in  v/hich  the  chief  heads  of  their  duties  to 
each  other  were  set  before  them  in  a  few  words.  What  is 
said  in  the  text  of  all  the  Lord's  statutes,  is  more  especially 
true  of  these  commandments,  that  the  Lord  commanded  us 
to  do  them  for  our  good.  Nothing  can  be  shorter  than 
most  of  them  are :  and  yet,  so  great  is  their  wisdom  and 
their  excellence,  that  any  country  which  observed  even  the 
letter  of  them  would  be  free  from  almost  every  great  crime ; 
while,  if  any  people  endeavoured  to  keep  them  not  in  the 
letter  only,  but  in  the  spirit, — if  any  people  or  nation  were 
wise  enough  to  obey  them  in  all  the  length  and  breadth  and 
height  and  depth  of  their  full  meaning, — such  a  people  would 
not  only  be  free  from  crime,  but  would  enjoy  a  peace,  a 
quiet,  a  security  and  tranquillity,  and  a  degree  of  prosperous, 
undisturbed,  rightful  happiness,  far  surpassing  anything  which 
has  ever  been  seen  upon  earth.  The  prophecy  of  Isaiah 
would  be  more  than  fulfilled  among  so  just  and  righteous  a 


THE   GOOD    OF   THE    COMMANDMENTS.  52 1 

people.  We  should  see  the  wolf  dwelling  with  the  lamb, 
and  the  leopard  lying  down  with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  with 
the  young  lion  and  the  fatling  together,  and  a  little  child 
leading  them.  That  is,  in  such  a  land  we  should  see  the 
most  perfect  unity  and  concord,  between  all  persons  of  all 
ranks  and  conditions.  We  should  see  tempers,  naturally  as 
fierce  and  violent  as  the  leopard  and  the  young  lion,  keep- 
ing within  the  rules  of  peaceableness  and  good  order. 
There  would  be  no  taking  advantage  of  the  weak,  the  inno- 
cent, or  the  rich,  who  are  now  as  welcome  a  booty  to  the 
needy  and  reckless,  as  the  kids  and  lambs  and  fatlings  are 
to  beasts  of  prey.  All  would  live  together  harmoniously  : 
and  this,  not  irom  the  dread  of  human  laws, — for  the 
government  might  be  mild  and  gentle  as  the  guidance  of  a 
little  child, — but  from  a  far  worthier  motive, — from  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  glory  of  his  Majesty,  as  the  prophet 
has  expressed  it  in  another  place.  In  such  a  land  the  sucking 
child  might  safely  play  upon  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the 
weaned  child  might  put  its  hand  into  the  cockatrice's  den. 
That  is  to  say,  innocence  would  be  secured  from  secret 
fraud,  as  well  as  from  open  force  :  so  that,  to  sum  up  all  in 
the  words  of  the  same  prophet,  none  should  hurt  or  destroy 
in  all  that  holy  kingdom.  Such  would  be  the  state  of  a 
people  who  kept  all  the  commandments  of  the  second  table, 
in  the  fullness  of  their  spiritual  purport.  There  could  be  no 
evil  strife  of  any  kind  among  that  people  :  for  that  is  for- 
bidden by  the  sixth  commandment.  There  could  be  no 
lewdness  or  impurity :  for  that  is  forbidden  by  the  seventh. 
There  could  be  no  injustice,  no  oppression,  no  over-reach- 
ing, no  taking  advantage  of  a  neighbour's  ignorance,  or  of 
his  necessities  :  there  could  be  no  petty  frauds  or  petty 
thefts  of  any  kind  :  for  all  these  things  are  forbidden  by  the 
eighth  commandment.  Again,  there  could  be  no  speaking 
untruly  of  our  neighbour,  no  evil-speaking  of  him  :  talebear- 


522  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

ing,  backbiting,  slandering,  putting  a  hard  or  unkind  mean- 
ing on  the  actions  of  others, — all  these  things  would  be 
banished  out  of  this  land,  as  being  contrary  to  the  ninth 
commandment.  Moreover  covetousness  and  greedy  desires 
of  every  kind,  be  it  of  gain,  be  it  of  honours,  be  it  of  rank, 
be  it  of  praise  and  glory, — these  too  would  be  clean  rooted 
out,  being  forbidden  by  the  tenth  commandment.  Lastly, 
all  the  family  virtues,  all  the  kindly  aftections,  all  those 
amiable  and  gentle  qualities,  which  make  a  man  beloved, 
and  are  the  honey  and  sugar  of  human  life,  rendering  it 
sweet  and  pleasant, — these  good  qualities  would  be  nursed 
and  fostered  by  the  spirit  of  the  fifth  commandment,  and 
would  strengthen  and  spread  throughout  the  land,  till  the 
whole  kingdom,  however  large,  would  be  so  knit  together, 
man  to  man,  and  house  to  house,  by  affectionate  feelings 
and  friendly  offices, — all  the  people  of  the  country  caring  for 
each  man  in  it,  and  each  doing  his  best  for  the  good  of  all, 
— that  the  nation  v/ould  grow  to  be  like  one  great  family, 
joined  together  by  brotherly  kindness,  and  governed  by  a 
voice  of  love. 

Such  and  no  less  than  this  would  be  the  happiness  of  a 
people  acting  fully  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  commandments 
of  the  second  table.  Therefore  we  ought  to  feel  most 
grateful  to  Almighty  God,  for  having  called  us  to  the  know- 
ledge of  laws  so  excellent  that,  if  men  would  only  keep,  they 
would  live  and  be  happy  by  them.  Do  not  tell  me  of  human 
frailty,  nor  argue  that  man  in  a  natural  state  is  unable  to  do 
all  this.  For  this,  though  true,  is  nothing  to  the  present 
purpose.  We  are  not  in  a  natural  state  :  we  have  been 
admitted  into  covenant  with  Christ :  we  have  the  promise  of 
the  Spirit,  if  we  will  ask  for  it  in  prayer.  Whatever  may  be 
the  case  with  others,  we  at  least  can  keep  these  laws,  through 
Christ  that  strengthens  us.  The  feelings  therefore,  which  I 
would  have  you  cherish,  when  you  think  of  these  command- 


THE    GOOD    OF    THE    COMMANDMENTS,  523 

ments,  are  thankfulness  to  our  heavenly  Father,  for  having 
given  us  these  laws  for  our  good,  and  shame,  because  we, 
his  disobedient  sons,  have  profited  so  little  by  his  goodness. 
I  have  shewn  you  what  would  be  the  state  of  a  country, 
where  the  commandments  were  made  the  rule  of  life.  Com- 
pare the  picture  with  the  present  state  of  England :  and  you 
will  see  how  much  we  lose,  even  in  this  life,  by  not  keeping 
them  better.  Why  are  there  so  many  laws  in  England,  and 
so  many  trials,  and  so  many  gaols,  and  so  many  punish- 
ments of  all  kinds  ?  Simply  because  men  will  not  keep  the 
commandments  which  God  has  given  them.  If  they  would 
do  so,  faithfully  and  heartily,  these  six  commandments  of 
the  second  table  would  stand  us  instead  of  all  those  acts  of 
parliament,  which  shew  what  labour  and  skill  are  needed 
for  man  to  keep  his  neighbour  from  doing  wrong,  and  how, 
in  spite  of  punishment  upon  punishment,  new  crimes  are 
ever  sprouting  up.  But  men  will  not  be  good  and  happy 
in  the  way  which  God  has  pointed  out  to  them.  They  will 
seek  out  bypaths  of  happiness  for  themselves,  by  oppression, 
and  by  cheating  and  robbing  one  neighbour  of  his  property, 
another  of  his  wife,  a  third  of  his  good  name.  Therefore 
human  laws  are  perforce  called  in,  to  frighten  men,  if 
possible,  from  those  evil  ways,  which  else  they  persist  in 
following.  Alas !  is  it  always  to  be  thus  ?  Are  thy  com- 
mandments, O  Lord,  always  to  be  made  the  sport  of  wicked 
and  ungodly  men  ?  Hasten,  we  beseech  thee,  that  time, 
when  all  the  words  of  thy  prophets  shall  be  fulfilled,  when 
all  thy  commandments  shall  be  kept  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
when  they  shall  neither  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  thy  holy 
mountain,  and  when  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  know- 
ledge of  thee,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.     Amen. 


XLIII. 
OBEDIENCE. 

Ephesians  vi.  I,  2. 

Children,  obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord  ;  for  this  is  right. 
Honour  your  father  and  mother ;  which  is  the  first  command- 
ment with  promise. 

T  N  my  last  sermon,  I  tried  to  shew  you  how  great  would 
''■  be  the  misery  of  a  people  that  should  set  the  command- 
ments at  defiance,  and  what  happiness  on  the  other  hand, 
would  attend  a  people  that  was  careful  to  observe  them  in 
all  their  spiritual  extent.  I  did  this,  for  the  sake  of  drawing 
your  thoughts  to  the  great  goodness  of  Almighty  God,  in 
binding  us  over  to  our  happiness,  by  commanding  us  to 
follow  and  keep  a  course,  which  leads  straight  to  our  good 
as  social  beings  ;  to  provide  for  which  good  is  the  object  of 
the  second  table.  As  the  first  table  shews  us  our  duty  to 
God,  in  order  that  God  may  bless  us,  so  the  second  table 
shews  us  our  duty  toward  our  neighbour,  in  order  that  we 
may  be  blessings  to  each  other,  and  may  lend  our  aid  to 
each  other's  welfare,  or  at  least  may  not  hurt  and  injure  one 
another,  and  may  be  kept  from  destroying  or  troubling  the 
hap])iness  which  God  may  have  given  to  our  neighbour. 
So  that  in  the  commandments  of  the  second  table,  God  has 
given  us  the  materials  for  a  goodly  building,  in  which  we 
may  all  live   together  peaceably  and  safely.     I  may  say, 


OBEDIENCE.  525 


safely :  because  in  these  commandments  God  has  given  us 
safety, — not  only  for  our  lives,  but  also  for  the  chastity  of 
our  wives,  without  which  there  can  be  no  comfort ;  for  our 
property,  whether  small  or  great;  and  lastly  for  our  cha- 
racters, protecting  them  from  false  swearers  and  evil-speakers. 
Whoever  is  protected  in  these  four  main  points, — whoever 
is  duly  defended  in  his  life,  in  his  family,  in  his  possessions, 
and  in  his  character, — has  every  safeguard  which  laws  or 
governors  can  bestow.  Such  is  the  goodly  edifice  which 
God  has  raised  for  his  people,  an  edifice  provided  with 
safety  for  everything  that  men  most  love  and  value.  The 
property  of  every  one,  the  life  of  every  one,  the  domestic 
comforts  of  every  one,  and  the  good  name  of  every  one, 
from  the  king  on  his  throne  to  the  labourer  in  his  cottage, 
have  all  their  especial  place  assigned  to  them  in  this  goodly 
edifice,  or  mansion  of  God's  law. 

Now  what  is  the  first  story  of  this  goodly  mansion  ? 
What  is  the  first  commandment,  which  God  laid  down  for 
the  others  to  rise  and  spring  from  ?  what  is  the  first  material 
of  social  happiness  which  God  has  given  to  his  people  ? 
The  first  material  of  all,  that  God  prepared  for  us,  when 
providing  for  our  social  happiness,  the  first  thing  he  made  a 
law  about,  was  the  obedience  of  children  to  their  parents. 
The  commandment  which  ordains  that  children  should 
honour  their  father  and  mother,  holds  the  first  place  in  the 
second  table.  It  comes  even  before  that  commandment 
which  protects  our  lives  by  forbidding  murder.  The  dutiful 
obedience  of  children  then  is  thus  declared  by  God  to  be 
the  foundation  of  all  social  happiness,  and  of  every  social 
virtue.  It  is  the  first  and  chief  thing  to  be  looked  to,  as 
being  the  likeliest  root  for  the  others  to  grow  from.  There- 
fore did  God  place  the  fifth  commandment  at  the  head  of 
the  second  table ;  to  teach  us  that  this  duty  is  the  head  and 
source  of  all  the  other  social  duties. 


526  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 


The  behaviour  of  a  child  to  its  parents  then  is  no  such 
trifle  as  too  many  perverse  children,  and  too  many  foolish 
parents,  are  prone  to  fancy  it.  How  often  do  we  hear 
mothers  saying,  "  It  is  only  the  poor  child's  way ;  it  is  a 
little  pettish  and  fractious  at  times  :  but  it  means  no  harm  by 
it.  To  be  sure  it  does  not  mind  me  quite  so  well  as  it  ought 
to  do  ;  but  children  will  be  children."  So  the  child  goes  on 
uncorrected,  and  grows  up  disobedient  and  undutiful.  That 
is,  it  grows  up  with  habits  and  dispositions  of  heart  and  mind 
so  evil,  that  God  has  classed  them  with  the  very  worst 
crimes,  with  false  swearing,  and  theft,  and  adultery,  and  even 
with  murder.  If  undutifulness  in  children  had  been  a  mere 
trifle,  would  God  have  put  it  into  this  black  list  ?  We  may 
be  certain  therefore,  that  there  is  more  evil  in  it  than  meets 
the  eye.  Either  it  must  be  worse  in  itself,  or  it  must  be 
more  dangerous,  or  more  mischievous,  than  we  suspect :  or 
at  least  the  contrary  virtue,  the  virtue  of  obedience,  must  be 
more  excellent  and  important.  Indeed  it  requires  no  very 
deep  search  into  the  matter,  to  find  two  prime  quaUties  in 
this  duty  of  children  to  obey  their  parents, — first,  the  reason- 
ableness and  justice  of  the  thing  in  itself,  and  secondly,  its 
use  in  forming  the  character  of  the  child.  These,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  are  two  of  the  qualities  which  make  obedience  to 
parents  of  so  much  value  and  importance,  that  God  has 
even  vouchsafed  to  win  us  to  it  by  marking  it  with  a  peculiar 
blessing. 

As  to  the  reasonableness  and  justice  of  this  duty,  can  any 
one  doubt  it,  who  thinks  what  a  child  is  ?  Look  at  a  baby, 
and  see  what  a  poor  helpless  thing  it  is.  Consider  how 
entirely  it  depends  on  its  parents  for  food  and  warmith  and 
clothing,  and  indeed  for  everything.  It  could  not  live  a  day, 
but  for  their  care  and  kindness.  Think  of  the  trouble  and 
anxiety,  the  careful  days  and  wakeful  nights,  which  an  infant 
costs  its  mother  by  its  sicknesses.     There  is  all  the  rearing 


OBEDIENCE.  527 


of  them,  especially  when  they  are  delicate.  What  plant  from 
the  Indies  is  so  difficult  to  rear,  or  needs  such  constant  care 
and  watching,  as  a  delicate  sickly  child  ?  Think  of  the  wear 
and  tear  in  the  mother's  heart, — I  have  often  seen  it, — 
during  that  rearing.  It  is  not  the  child-bearing,  so  much  as 
the  child-rearing, — it  is  the  watching  the  cradle  with  patient 
eye  day  after  day  for  hours  together, — it  is  the  care  and  fear 
and  anxiety  and  weariness  while  nursing  children  through 
their  illnesses,  that  drive  the  colour  from  the  mother's  cheek, 
and  make  it  pale  and  wan  before  its  time.  Children ! 
children  !  what  do  you  owe  to  your  mothers,  whose  hearts 
you  have  thus  sorely  tried,  and  who  have  thus  sacrificed  so 
much  of  their  strength  for  you,  that  you  might  live  and  grow 
up  and  be  strong  !  It  is  true,  we  can  none  of  us  remember 
the  pains  and  anxiety,  which  we  must  all  have  cost  our 
mothers  in  our  infancy.  But  we  may  give  a  good  guess, 
by  observing  the  care  and  pains  they  bestow  on  our  younger 
brothers  and  sisters.  Whatever  pains  and  anxieties  these 
may  cost  our  mother,  we  may  be  sure  that  we  in  our  infancy 
must  have  cost  her  nearly  the  same.  Therefore  I  would 
have  every  one  of  you,  boys  and  girls,  that  now  hear  me, 
when  you  see  your  mothers  nursing  a  baby,  and  watching 
over  it, — I  would  have  you  say  to  yourselves  :  "  So  must  she 
have  nursed  me  ;  so  must  she  have  watched  over  me  :  I 
must  have  needed  all  this  looking  after :  I  must  have  put 
her  to  all  this  trouble :  I  must  have  been  treated  with  all 
tliis  tenderness."  If  you  would  think  in  this  way  of  what 
your  mothers  must  have  done  for  you,  you  could  not  help 
feeling  what  a  debt  of  thankfulness  and  love  you  owe  them. 
It  is  the  only  return  you  can  make  to  your  parents,  for  all 
they  have  done  for  you  during  your  infancy,  for  all  that  they 
are  still  doing  and  feeling  for  you  during  your  childhood, 
yea,  and  for  years  after.  For  a  mother's  heart  is  not  like 
the  heart  of  an  animal,  which  when  its  young  have  ceased 


528  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

to  suck,  drops  them  out  of  its  memory.  The  human  heart 
is  of  more  lasting  stuff.  The  impressions  which  God  makes, 
when  he  writes  on  it  with  the  pen  of  nature,  if  the  heart  is 
of  the  right  kind,  last  for  ever.  The  mother,  the  good 
mother  at  least,  will  go  on  caring  for  her  children  long, 
long  after  they  have  become  men  and  women.  Let  them 
be  men  and  women  to  others  ;  to  her  they  will  always  be 
children.  When  her  sons  and  daughters  marry,  you  will 
see  her  grow  young  again  for  joy :  and  she  will  take  to 
nursing  and  loving  and  looking  after  their  children,  almost 
as  if  they  were  her  own.  So  strong  and  lasting  is  a  mother's 
love,  that,  while  other  animals  drive  their  young  away,  as 
soon  as  they  can  feed  themselves,  the  love  of  human  parents 
descends  and  prolongs  itself  even  to  their  offspring's  off- 
spring. 

But  this  is  only  the  outward  and  visible  sign,  and  is  next 
to  nothing  when  compared  to  the  inward  feelings.  Their 
fears,  their  wishes,  their  prayers  for  your  soul's  welfare, 
their  eagerness  to  mark  every  hopeful  sign  of  godliness  and 
goodness  in  you, — the  delight  they  take  in  thinking  and 
speaking  of  every  little  token  of  kindness  and  affection  that 
you  may  shew  them, — these  are  the  true  and  touching  proofs 
how  imperishable  a  mother's  love  is  ;  and  in  return  for  that 
love,  so  long  as  they  are  in  this  world,  you  will  owe  them, 
and  should  rejoice  to  pay  them,  a  still  increasing  debt  of 
duty  and  gratitude  and  affection.  For  this  is  the  only  pay- 
ment they  ask  for,  in  return  for  all  their  tenderness  and  care 
and  anxiety  in  watching  over  you.  They  only  want  love 
for  love ;  a  love  of  course  suitable  to  the  difference  which 
God  has  placed  between  you.  For  you  must  never  forget 
that  you  are  the  child,  and  she  the  parent :  you  received  life 
from  her,  and  she  gave  life  to  you,  and  carried  you  in  her 
arms,  and  fed  you  from  her  own  breasts.  Therefore  your 
love  must  be  not  love  merely,  but  dutiful  love,  such  as  it 


OBEDIENCE.  529 


befits  a  child  to  cherish  for  its  parent,  a  love  shewing  itself 
in  acts  of  gentleness  and  respect  and  kindness,  and  above 
all,  till  you  are  quite  grown  up,  in  the  strictest  and  readiest 
obedience. 

I  have  spoken  only  of  the  debt  which  children  owe  to 
their  mother :  but  you  will  easily  understand  that  there 
must  be  a  like  debt  owing  to  the  father  also.  The  com- 
mandment says,  "  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother," 
putting  the  father  first.  For  he  is  the  head  of  his  family ; 
he  supports  it  by  his  labour ;  he  rules  the  house  :  therefore 
to  him,  as  the  master  and  the  head,  who  provides  for  and 
supplies  the  wants  of  all,  the  fullest  love  and  respect  and 
obedience  are  plainly  due. 

Children,  you  see,  are  not  only  bound  to  love  their 
parents,  but  likewise  to  obey  them,  and  that,  not  from  con- 
straint, nor  from  the  fear  of  blows,  but  readily  and  willingly 
and  cheerfully.  The  obedience  paid  for  the  fear  of  stripes 
is  the  obedience  of  a  mule,  not  of  a  son.  What  I  should 
desire  to  see  paid  to  parents  throughout  the  land,  is  that 
perfect,  that  entire  and  willing  obedience,  which  belongs  to 
christian  sons,  that  is,  to  sons  who  take  Jesus  for  their 
example.  Even  he,  the  Son  of  God,  the  King  of  glory,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,  was  subject,  during  his  childhood  and 
youth,  to  his  earthly  parents.  Surely  then  it  must  be  right 
and  fitting  for  earthly  children  to  obey  theirs.  I  am  aware, 
this  strict  and  ready  obedience,  which  does  everything  it  is 
bid,  as  soon  as  it  is  bid,  without  asking  why  or  wherefore, 
— this  unquestioning  obedience,  I  am  aware,  is  rather  out 
of  date.  But  God's  words  are  still  true,  and  God's  com- 
mandments are  still  good  and  reasonable,  whatever  the 
world,  which  is  at  enmity  with  God,  may  think  or  say.  For 
look  at  the  mind  of  a  child,  and  see  whether  that,  as  well  as 
its  body,  is  not  poor  and  weak  and  helpless.  What  does  a 
child  know  ?    What  can  a  child  know,  save  what  its  parents 

M   M 


530  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

teach  it  ?  Its  parents  for  a  time  stand  in  the  place  of  God 
to  it  ]  as  such,  it  must  believe  them  and  obey  them,  and  not 
only  during  the  years  of  early  childhood,  but  long  after. 
For,  as  the  baby  is  ignorant  of  what  belongs  to  babyhood, 
so  is  the  boy  ignorant  of  what  belongs  to  boyhood,  and  the 
youth  too  is  ignorant  of  what  belongs  to  his  age.  There  is 
the  same  difference  between  a  father  and  son,  a  mother  and 
daughter,  as  between  a  person  who  knows  a  road  and  one 
who  does  not.  If  any  of  you  wanted  to  walk  across  the 
country  to  Salisbury,  you  would  not  think  of  starting  till  you 
had  spoken  with  a  friend  who  had  gone  the  way  before. 
If  that  friend  told  you  to  avoid  a  particular  spot,  where  the 
river  had  overflowed  its  banks,  and,  instead  of  following  the 
vale,  to  strike  up  the  hill,  where  the  path,  though  a  little 
rougher,  was  dryer  and  shorter  and  better,  you  would  mind 
what  he  said,  and  follow  his  directions.  Now  is  not  the 
road  of  life  more  difficult  to  find  out  than  the  road  to  Salis- 
bury ?  and  is  not  the  heart  of  a  parent  more  anxious  for  your 
welfare,  than  a  common  wayfaring  acquaintance,  that  you 
should  hesitate  to  listen  to  the  advice  your  parents  give 
you  when  starting  on  the  journey  of  life?  "  Hear,  ye  chil- 
dren," (says  Solomon,)  "the  instructions  of  a  father;  for  I 
give  you  good  doctrine  : "  and  again,  "  Hear,  O  my  son, 
and  receive  my  sayings,  for  I  have  taught  thee  in  the  way  of 
wisdom  :  I  have  led  thee  in  right  paths.  When  thou  run- 
nest  thou  shalt  not  stumble."  (Prov.  iv.  i,  lo.)  Solomon 
stored  up  the  treasures  of  his  wisdom  for  the  good  of  his 
son  Rehoboam.  But  that  son  did,  like  too  many  sons  now- 
adays :  he  shut  his  ears  against  his  father's  advice,  and 
cast  off  his  father's  old  experienced  counsellors,  and  listened 
to  the  young  men  who  had  grown  up  with  him,  and  who 
were  no  wiser  than  himself.  The  Book  of  Kings  tells  us  the 
consequences  :  Rehoboam  lost  ten  out  of  the  twelve  tribes ; 
and  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  rent  from  that  of  Judah, 


OBEDIENCE.  531 


never  to  be  reunited  to  it  even  to  this  day.  Your  parents 
indeed  have  not  the  wisdom  of  Solomon ;  nor  does  the  fate 
of  a  kingdom  depend  on  your  obeying  them  :  but  they  have 
your  welfare  at  heart :  and  they  have  that  experience  in 
tlie  ways  of  Hfe,  which  you  want.  You  may  be  the  better 
for  their  experience ;  you  may  profit  by  their  warnings  ;  you 
may  learn  from  their  lessons.  All  these  advantages  a  child 
throws  away,  that  does  not  listen  to  his  parents. 

But  even  if  the  benefits  of  obedience  were  less  plain,  it 
must  be  always  wise  and  reasonable  to  do  what  God  has 
commanded  us.  And  it  is  expressly  written  in  the  Bible  : 
"  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things  ;  for  this  is  well 
pleasing  to  the  Lord."  (Col.  iii.  20.)  This  blessing  too  is 
pronounced  in  Jeremiah  upon  the  Rechabites  :  "  Because 
you  have  obeyed  the  commandment  of  Jonadab  your  father, 
and  kept  all  his  precepts,  and  done  according  to  all  that  he 
hath  commanded  you;  therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  :  Jonadab  the  son  of  Rechab  shall  not  want  a  man 
to  stand  before  me  for  ever."  (Jer.  xxxv.  18,  19.) 

Thus  far  I  have  tried  to  shew  you  how  just  and  reasonable 
it  is  that  children  should  honour  and  obey  their  parents. 
But  there  is  another  very  important  view  of  the  matter  yet 
behind.  I  mean,  the  use  and  benefit  to  the  child  itself,  of 
training  it  up  from  infancy  to  regular  and  prompt  obedience. 
This  is  a  matter  which  concerns  the  parents  quite  as  much 
as  the  child.  For  if  it  be  of  great  advantage  to  a  child  to 
be  trained  up  in  habits  of  obedience,  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
every  parent  to  train  up  a  child  in  such  habits. 

Now  what  in  my  mind  gives  this  duty  its  chief  title  to  be 
considered  the  source  and  wellspring  of  so  many  others,  is, 
that,  to  fulfil  it,  a  child  must  be  brought  up,  from  the  moment 
it  can  understand  anything,  to  obey  its  parents  readily  and 
cheerfully,  without  any  of  those  loitering  steps  and  angry 
tears  and  sullen  looks,  which  one  too  often  sees  in  children ; 


532  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

but  which  no  good  and  thinking  man  can  witness  without 
sorrow :  so  clearly  does  such  backwardness  and  sullenness 
prove  that  there  is  an  evil  root  in  the  heart  of  the  child, 
which,  if  it  be  not  closely  watched,  will  assuredly  bring 
forth  fruits  of  stubbornness  and  disobedience.  And  what 
fruits  can  be  worse  ?  Hear  what  the  Scripture  says  of  them  : 
"  Rebellion  and  disobedience  is  like  the  sin  of  witchcraft, 
and  stubbornness  is  like  idolatry."  That  is  to  say,  stubborn- 
ness and  disobedience  are  so  bad  in  God's  sight,  that  no 
sins  can  well  be  worse.  It  is  true,  the  disobedience  and 
stubbornness  condemned  in  this  passage  are  against  God, 
not  against  man.  But,  as  St.  John  reasons  about  love,  that, 
if  a  man  love  not  his  brother  whom  he  has  seen,  he  cannot 
love  God  whom  he  has  not  seen  :  so  may  we  also  reason 
about  obedience,  that,  if  a  child  does  not  learn  to  obey  its 
earthly  parents,  neither  will  it  obey  its  heavenly  Father.  It 
is  in  the  school  of  home,  amid  the  little  hardships  and  re- 
straints and  crosses  and  disappointments  which  every  child 
must  needs  meet  with,  that  the  great  lesson  of  obedience  is 
best  learnt :  as  it  is  written  even  of  Christ  himself;  "Though 
he  were  a  son,  )'-et  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  which 
he  suffered."  (Heb.  v.  8.)  Now  in  no  place  is  this  obedience, 
which  we  have  all  such  great  need  to  learn  somewhere,  to 
be  learnt  so  easily  and  with  so  little  suftering,  as  in  our 
father's  house,  in  childhood.  For  then  we  have  no  habits  to 
unlearn.  The  obstinacy  and  perverseness  of  our  natures 
are  still  in  the  bud.  They  have  not  blossomed  and  seeded. 
They  have  not  yet  grown  hard  and  tough  with  age.  They 
have  not  struck  their  crooked  roots  deep  into  every  corner 
of  the  heart,  nor  twisted  them,  as  they  are  sure  to  do  in  later 
life,  when  suffered  to  grow  unchecked,  round  every  violent 
passion  and  evil  disposition,  strengthening  them,  and 
strengthened  by  them.  These  things  which  make  the  cure 
of  obstinacy  and  perverseness  so  difficult  in  a  grown-up 


OBEDIENCE.  533 


person,  in  a  child  do  not  yet  exist.  Therefore,  as  it  is  easier 
to  draw  the  tooth  of  a  child  than  of  a  grown-up  person, 
because  their  teeth  have  no  fangs,  and  ours  have  :  so  it  is 
easier  to  break  and  cut  down  that  perverseness  and  obstinacy 
which  we  are  all  born  with,  in  a  child  than  in  a  grown-up 
person ;  and  for  the  very  same  reason :  because  their  per- 
verseness has  had  no  time  to  strike  its  fangs  into  their 
heart. 

The  sum  of  the  matter  is  this.  There  is  a  root  of  self-will 
born  in  every  man ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  worst  parts  of  that 
corrupt  nature  which  we  have  all  inherited  from  Adam. 
But  this  is  not  the  worst :  for  out  of  this  root  of  self-will 
grow  two  evil  and  misshapen  stems.  One  of  these  stems  is 
pride  ;  the  other  stem  is  disobedience.  This  is  our  state  by 
nature.  We  have  all  a  natural  dislike  to  be  ruled  or  coun- 
selled, even  to  our  own  good.  We  have  all  a  stem  of  pride, 
and  a  stem  of  disobedience,  growing  out  of  that  evil  root  of 
self-will,  which  we  all  brought  with  us  into  the  world,  and 
which  is  our  portion  of  the  stock  of  Adam.  Now  if  these 
stems  were  allowed  to  shoot  up  and  grow,  until  pride  had 
overshadowed  and  darkened  our  mind,  and  disobedience 
had  filled  our  hearts,  what  room  would  be  left  for  godliness 
and  righteousness?  Would  not  the  heart  and  mind  and 
soul  be  full  of  qualities  the  most  opposite  and  hostile  to  the 
heavenly  graces  which  Christ  requires  from  all  such  as  love 
him  and  believe  in  him  ?  Christ  requires  us  to  have  no  will 
of  our  own,  and  to  make  the  will  of  God  our  only  rule  of 
action.  What  hope  is  there  that  this  will  be  done  by  any 
one  who  has  accustomed  himself  to  make  his  own  will  his 
idol  ?  Christ  requires  us  to  be  humble-minded.  How  hard 
a  lesson  is  this  for  a  man  whose  mind  is  filled  with  pride  ? 
Christ  requires  us  to  be  obedient.  But  how  can  any  one 
become  so,  who  has  grown  up  a  child  of  disobedience  ?  You 
may  as  well  expect  water  to  burn,  and  fire  to  wet, — you 


534  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

may  as  well  expect  a  barren  common,  that  has  never  been 
ploughed  and  sown,  to  produce  a  crop  of  good  wheat, — as 
that  a  child,  which  has  gone  on  year  after  year  in  pride  and 
self-will  and  disobedience  to  its  parents,  will  readily  or 
easily  tear  off  its  habits  and  its  nature,  to  walk  humbly  and 
obediently  before  God.  The  thing  is  not  to  be  imagined. 
Therefore  what  does  Solomon  say  ?  "  Train  up  a  child  in 
the  way  he  should  go."  Train  him  up  in  obedience  to  his 
parents,  while  a  child,  in  order  that  he  may  be  less  unwilling 
to  obey  our  heavenly  Father,  when  he  becomes  a  man.  "It 
is  good  for  a  man,"  (says  the  prophet  Jeremiah,)  "  that  he 
bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth."  (Lam.  iii.  27.)  But  what  yoke  ? 
First,  the  yoke  of  obedience;  secondly,  the  yoke  of  self- 
denial  ;  thirdly,  the  yoke  of  the  cross,  which  is  the  sign  and 
token  of  humility.  This  is  the  triple  yoke,  which  it  behoves 
children  to  bear.  A  child  cannot  be  taught  too  early  to  be 
obedient  and  humble  and  self-denying.  We  must  cultivate 
obedience  in  him,  a  goodly  plant,  that  it  may  outgrow  and 
overtop  and  stifle  the  evil  stem  of  disobedience.  We  must 
cultivate  humility  in  him,  another  goodly  plant,  in  the  hope 
that  it  may  outgrow  and  overtop  and  stifle,  or  at  least  keep 
under,  the  evil  stem  of  pride.  Lastly,  we  must  train  and 
accustom  him  to  habits  of  steady  self  denial,  which  our  Lord 
has  recommended  to  us  as  the  best  of  yokes  for  our  head- 
strong and  else  unmanageable  self-will.  Pampering  and  indulg- 
ing the  will  is  like  giving  strong  meats  to  a  man  in  a  raging 
fever.  It  is  adding  fuel  to  the  fire.  Stubbornness  is  an 
enemy  that  must  be  starved  out.  We  cannot  drive  him  out 
of  the  fortress  of  our  souls,  except  by  prayer,  which  brings 
us  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  fasting,  or  self-denial, 
which  starves  and  weakens  and  mortifies  or  kills  the  will. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  is  easy  to  perceive  the  excel- 
lence of  the  fifth  commandment  toward  forming  the  cha- 
racter of  a  child,  and  training  it  up  to  go  in  that  way  which 


OBEDIENCE.  535 


God  desires  to  see  us  all  walk  in, — the  way  of  humility,  of 
self-denial,  and  of  obedience.  These  three  are  very  closely 
joined  together.  A  man  can  scarcely  be  humble  and  self- 
denying,  without  being  likewise  obedient.  On  the  other 
hand,  though  a  man  may  be  kept  from  this  or  that  crime  by 
the  dread  of  punishment,  by  shame,  by  the  fear  of  con- 
sequences, by  want  of  inclination, — though  a  man  may 
be  kept  by  motives  of  this  sort  from  committing  great 
crimes,  and  even  from  indulging  in  gross  sins, — he  will 
never  be  obedient  to  the  whole  law  of  love,  without  being 
at  the  same  time  humble  and  self-denying.  It  is  so  even  in 
earthly  love  :  and  this  is  the  great  blessing  of  earthly  love : 
that  it  is  a  school  of  self-denial.  There  will  ever  be  some 
pleasure  to  sacrifice,  some  interest  to  give  up,  some  affront 
or  slight  to  overlook  :  and  how  is  a  man  to  do  these  things, 
who  has  not  learnt  to  practise  self-denial  ?  So  that  these 
three  principles  are  very  closely  linked  together.  The  prin- 
ciple of  humihty,  which  teaches  us  to  esteem  and  honour 
others  above  ourselves  ;  the  principle  of  self-denial,  which 
weans  us  from  the  pleasures  and  the  treasures,  the  toys  and 
joys  of  this  world,  and  leads  us  cheerfully  to  forego  any  of 
them,  if  it  comes  into  competition  with  our  duty;  and  the 
principle  of  strict  obedience  to  every  commandment  of  God, 
— and  for  his  sake  likewise  to  every  lawful  commandment 
of  those  men  who  have  a  claim  and  title  to  our  obedience ; 
as  our  parents  in  the  first  place,  then  our  schoolmasters  and 
teachers,  the  sovereign,  and  all  who  are  in  authority,  our 
masters,  if  we  happen  to  be  servants,  and  our  superiors  of 
every  degree. 

For  this  humility,  this  self-denial,  and  this  obedience, 
what  school  can  be  so  excellent  as  a  family  where  the  fifth 
commandment  is  duly  kept?  Think  of  these  words. 
Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother :  and  see  how  very 
much  they  contain.     It  is  not  the  mere  outward  act  of 


536  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

obedience  that  is  here  required  from  us, — it  is  honour, — a 
large  word,  embracing  many  particulars  of  duty,  inward 
respect,  outward  reverence,  and  every  kind  of  real  service. 
So  that  children  are  called  upon  by  this  fifth  command- 
ment, not  only  to  shew  their  parents  the  highest  respect 
outwardly,  but  also  to  cherish  the  feelings  of  grateful  love 
and  reverence  for  them  inwardly.  Yes,  children,  you  must 
obey  your  parents;  you  must  wait  upon  them,  when  you 
grow  old  enough :  you  must  perform  such  services  for  them 
as  they  may  stand  in  need  of;  you  must  assist  them  in  all 
things  to  the  utmost  of  your  power.  In  old  age  and  sick- 
ness you  must  do  your  best  to  make  them  comfortable,  not 
grumbling  at  the  task,  not  thinking  it  wearisome,  but  rather 
rejoicing  that  you  have  an  opportunity  of  shewing  your 
gratitude  to  your  parents,  by  nursing  and  taking  care  of 
them  in  their  old  age,  in  return  for  all  the  care  and  nursing 
which  you  received  from  them  in  your  infancy.  This,  and 
nothing  short  of  this,  is  honouring  your  father  and  your 
mother. 

Now  how  much  humility  and  self-denial,  as  well  as  how 
much  obedience,  must  be  learnt  in  the  practice  of  these  things ! 
They  cannot  be  done  by  a  proud,  disobedient,  stubborn  child, 
who  is  not  ready  to  give  up  its  own  wishes  to  the  wishes 
and  directions  of  its  parents.  Thus  the  fifth  commandment 
is  a  kind  of  practical  school,  where  the  child,  in  obeying  its 
parents,  learns  to  obey  all  to  whom  it  owes  obedience.  In 
giving  up  its  little  fancies  to  please  its  parents,  it  learns  the 
duty  of  sacrificing  self  to  others.  And  what  lessons  can  be 
more  necessary  ?  or  when  are  these  lessons  likely  to  be 
learnt,  if  they  are  not  learnt  in  childhood  ?  So  that  this 
commandment  is  twofold.  While  it  speaks  directly  to  chil- 
dren, and  shews  them  how  they  are  to  behave  toward  their 
parents,  it  also  teaches  parents  how  and  in  what  spirit  they 
are  to  bring   up   their  children.     Children,   honour  your 


OBEDIENCE.  537 


parents,  and  obey  them  in  all  things;  for  this  is  well- 
pleasing  to  the  Lord.  Parents,  bring  up  your  children  to 
honour  and  obey  you  :  teach  them  to  honour  and  obey  you 
in  God's  stead.  So,  when  they  pass  from  under  your  wing, 
may  they,  who  have  been  obedient  to  their  earthly,  become 
obedient  to  their  heavenly  Father. 


XLIV. 
LOVE,  THE  FULFILLING  OF  THE  LAW. 

Romans  xiii.  8—10. 

He  that  loveth  another,  hath  fulfilled  the  law.  For  this, — 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt 
not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  thou  shalt  not 
covet,  and  if  there  be  any  other  commandment, — it  is  briefly 
comprehended  in  this  saying.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  tliyself.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour ;  therefore 
love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law. 

'T'HE  foundations  of  that  godly  edifice  of  law  and  duty, 
-'-  which  the  commandments,  when  put  together,  form, 
having  been  already  treated  of  in  my  former  sermons,  I 
shall  now  proceed  briefly  to  examine  the  upper  parts  of  the 
building.  You  have  had  your  duty  to  God  set  before  you. 
You  have  been  taught  that  covetousness  is  a  worship  of 
Mammon,  that  lust  is  a  worship  of  Belial,  that  malice  and 
revenge  is  a  worship  of  Moloch,  and  that  consequently  they 
who  indulge  these,  or  indeed  any  other  evil  desires  and 
evil  passions,  sacrifice,  as  St.  Paul  expresses  it,  to  devils. 
So  that  these  three  mother  vices,  hatred,  sensuality,  and 
covetousness,  are  all  clean  contrary  to  that  first  and  great 
commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  but 
me."  Here  then  is  one  great  foundation  laid  for  the  edifice 
of  law  and  duty,  which  I  will  call  the  foundation  of  piety. 
But  further,  what  you  owe  to  your  parents  has  likewise  been 


LOVE,    THE    FULFILLING    OF    THE    LAW.  539 

set  before  you  :  and  in  speaking  on  that  point,  so  much 
was  said  about  the  great  evil  and  danger  of  self-will  and 
pride  and  disobedience,  and  the  opposite  graces  of  self- 
denial  and  humility  and  obedience  were  so  urged  on  your 
minds,  that  here  another  great  foundation  was  also  laid, 
which  I  will  call  the  foundation  of  self-abasement. 

Now  these  two  foundations  are  not  only  broad  and  deep 
enough  to  support  the  whole  weight  of  our  duty  both  to 
God  and  man ;  they  are  also  capable  of  furnishing  a  great 
part  of  the  materials  for  the  building.  For  just  as  the 
builder,  who  would  build  solidly,  must  build  the  whole  of 
goodly  stone,  hewing  the  materials  for  his  foundation  and 
for  his  superstructure  out  of  the  same  quarry,  so  is  it  in 
religion.  Here  too,  after  self-abasement  has  sunk  the 
ground  deep,  and  piety  has  laid  its  foundations  solidly, — 
here  too,  after  the  man  has  been  emptied  of  his  wilful  self, 
and  filled  with  the  will  of  God  instead, — the  same  principles 
of  godliness  and  self-denial  are  requisite  to  carry  up  the 
building  heavenward.  Without  godliness  to  carry  it  on,  the 
building  is  like  to  come  to  a  stand:  without  straight  and 
strict  and  severe  lines  of  self-denial  and  humility,  to  keep 
every  act  and  thought  in  its  place,  the  building  will  be  sure 
to  bilge  somewhere.  The  walls  will  have  their  weak  side ; 
a  skilful  eye  will  discover  a  swelling  out  in  it,  like  a  breach 
ready  to  fall ;  and  sooner  or  later  it  will  come  down.  So 
important  are  the  two  principles  of  godliness  and  self-abase- 
ment, not  to  the  foundations  merely,  but  likewise  to  the 
whole  edifice  of  duty. 

Well,  then,  supposing  these  principles  laid  in  and  pro- 
vided for  you,  what  move  is  wanting  to  complete  the  edifice  ? 
Only  the  cement  of  love.  Therefore,  instead  of  taking  you 
through  the  last  five  commandments,  one  by  one,  I  have 
chosen  a  text  from  St.  Paul,  which  classes  all  the  five 
together,  and  declares  them  to  be  all  included  under  the 


540  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

universal  law  of  love.  "He  that  loveth  another,"  (says  that 
apostle,)  "hath  fulfilled  the  law.  For  this, — Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt  not  steal, 
thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  thou  shalt  not  covet,  and 
if  there  be  any  other  commandment, — it  is  briefly  compre- 
hended in  this  saying,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."  Thus  far  what  the  apostle  says  must  be  plain  and 
clear  to  all.  No  man  can  have  any  difficulty  in  under- 
standing, that,  if  we  love  a  man,  we  shall  not  try  to  kill  him, 
nor  to  draw  the  affections  of  his  wife  from  him,  nor  to  rob 
him,  nor  to  tell  lies  of  him,  nor  to  do  him  any  other  injury. 
So  far  all  is  clear.  But  St.  Paul  goes  a  step  further.  "  Love 
worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour;  therefore  love  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law."  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law ;  what 
does  that  mean  ?  To  fulfil  a  thing  is  to  fill  it  full,  so  that 
no  part  of  it  is  left  void  or  empty.  Thus  we  pray  in  the 
Communion  Service,  that  all  who  have  partaken  of  that  holy 
communion, — all,  that  is,  who  have  partaken  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  their  Saviour  Christ,  spiritually  set  before  them 
in  that  holy  sacrament, — may  be  fulfilled,  or  fully  filled,  with 
God's  grace  and  benediction.  We  pray  that  they  may  be 
brimful  of  grace  and  blessings,  so  that  no  part  of  them  may 
be  left  empty  of  grace,  no  part  of  them  unguarded  and 
unhallowed  by  the  Spirit  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  fulfilling.  It  is  an  image  taken  from  a 
cup  filled  as  full  as  it  can  hold ;  and  it  is  applied,  both  in 
Scripture  and  in  the  language  of  common  life,  to  a  great 
number  of  things.  In  the  Book  of  Exodus  we  read,  that 
Pharaoh's  taskmasters  required  the  children  of  Israel,  after 
the  straw  had  been  taken  from  them,  to  fulfill  their  daily 
task  in  making  bricks  as  before  ;  that  is,  they  were  required 
to  give  in  fully  as  many  bricks  as  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  make  during  the  time  when  straw  was  given  to  them. 
The  tale,  or  quantity,  of  bricks  demanded  of  them  was  not 


LOVE,   THE    FULFILLING   OF   THE    LAW.  541 

to  be  diminished.  In  the  same  way,  to  fulfil  a  promise  is  to 
keep  it  fully  and  completely :  and  so  to  fulfil  a  duty  is 
to  discharge  it  fully  and  completely,  leaving  no  part  of  it 
neglected  or  unperformed. 

After  this,  we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  how 
much  St.  Paul  means  by  fulfilling  the  law.  He  means  that 
we  should  do  everything  it  requires  of  us  to  the  very  utmost. 
We  are  punctually  and  exactly  to  give  in  every  single  one 
of  the  tale  of  bricks,  or  rather  of  the  fine  hewn  stones,  which 
God  demands  from  us  toward  building  up  the  edifice  of 
duty.  We  are  not  to  break,  or  to  neglect,  or  to  overlook 
any  part  of  any  one  of  the  commandments,  under  the 
pretence  that  it  is  a  Httle  one,  that  it  is  a  trifle,  that  it  cannot 
signify,  that  there  is  no  good  in  being  too  particular, — 
remembering  the  words  of  Jesus  in  his  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  that  whosoever  shall  break  the  very  least  of  these 
commandments,  shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  That  is  to  say,  he  shall  be  considered  a  most 
unworthy  member  of  Christ's  kingdom  even  here,  and  there- 
fore, I  need  not  add,  can  have  no  chance  of  being  admitted 
into  Christ's  glorious  and  everlasting  kingdom  hereafter. 

Now  it  is  well  worth  our  notice,  that,  when  Jesus  uttered 
this  awful  threat  against  any  one  who  presumed  to  break 
any  one  of  God's  commandments,  even  in  the  least  tittle,  he 
was  speaking  of  the  very  point  which  St.  Paul  speaks  of  in 
the  text.  He  was  speaking,  as  his  great  ambassador  and 
messenger  to  the  Gentiles,  the  apostle  Paul,  spoke  afterward, 
of  fulfilling  the  law.  "Think  not,  (these  are  his  words,) 
think  not  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law.  I  am  not  come 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  Whosoever  therefore,"  (I  pray  you, 
mark  this  word,  therefore^)  "  shall  break  one  of  these  least 
commandments,  he  shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  For  I  say  to  you,  Except  your  righteousness 
shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees, 


542  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
(Matt.  V.  17-20.)  As  if  he  had  said,  "I  am  come  to  fultil 
the  law  of  Moses :  I  am  come  to  shew  you  the  exceeding 
depth  of  God's  commandments:  I  am  come  to  shew  you 
how  much  they  require  of  every  one,  when  they  are  taken 
in  their  full  meaning.  This  is  one  great  object  of  my 
coming.  Therefore,  if  any  person  fancies  I  am  come  to 
bring  men  a  Hcence  for  sinning, — if  any  one  conceives  he 
may  continue  in  sin,  because  I  have  brought  grace  and 
pardon  into  the  world, — he  quite  mistakes  the  purpose  of 
my  coming.  The  Father  sent  me,  not  to  abolish  holiness, 
nor  to  diminish  aught  from  it,  but  to  set  it  upon  a  stronger 
foundation,  and  to  give  it  its  just  limits;  so  that  it  shall 
embrace,  not  only  the  outward  actions  of  men,  but  their 
very  thoughts  and  wishes.  I  am  come  to  fulfil  the  law, 
not  to  make  it  void.  Nay,  so  far  am  I  from  intending  to 
weaken  it  in  any  one  point,  or  to  take  aught  from  it,  that 
on  the  contrary  I  require  a  much  more  perfect  service  from 
my  disciples  than  has  hitherto  been  deemed  necessary. 
The  righteousness  which  you  admire  so  much  in  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  is  not  enough  to  satisfy  me.  Except  your 
righteousness  exceed  theirs,  you  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

It  seems  to  follow  from  what  has  been  said,  that  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law  spoken  of  in  the  text  is  keeping  it  in  its 
fullest,  its  deepest,  its  most  spiritual  meaning.  And  what  is 
that  ?  What  is  the  full  breadth  and  length  and  depth  of  the 
sixth  commandment,  and  of  the  seventh,  and  of  the  eighth, 
and  of  the  ninth  ?  How  much  do  they  contain  ?  So  far  as 
the  sixth  and  seventh  are  concerned,  the  question  need  not 
trouble  us :  since  our  Saviour  himself  has  pointed  out  how 
much  these  two  commandments  require  from  us,  in  order  to 
their  true  fulfilment.  And  though  he  confined  himself  to 
the  two  commandments  against  murder  and  adultery,  yet 


LOVE,    THE   FULFILLING   OF   THE    LAW.  543 

by  observing  the  principles  he  laid  down  concerning  them, 
and  by  applying  the  same  principles  to  the  commandments 
against  theft,  and  false  witness,  and  coveting,  we  shall  have 
no  difficulty  in  making  out  how  these  commandments  also 
should  be  fulfilled. 

To  begin  then  with  the  sixth  and  seventh :  our  Saviour, 
after  giving  his  disciples  to  understand  that  the  narrow  view 
which  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  had  been  wont  to  take  of 
their  duty,  in  their  shallow  righteousness,  must  now  be 
enlarged  and  widened,  proceeds  as  follows  :  "  Ye  have  heard 
that  it  was  said  by  them  of  old  time,  Thou  shalt  not  kill ; 
and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judg- 
ment :  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  is  angry  with  his 
brother  without  a  cause  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judg- 
ment ;  and  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall 
be  in  danger  of  the  council :  but  whosoever  shall  say,  Thou 
fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  hell-fire.  Ye  have  heard  that  it 
was  said  by  them  of  old  time.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery :  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  looketh  on  a 
woman  to  lust  after  her,  hath  committed  adultery  with  her 
already  in  his  heart."  (Matt.  v.  21,  22,  27,  28.)  Now,  with- 
out entering  into  a  detailed  examination  of  these  words,  thus 
much  is  clear  at  first  sight,  that  in  them  our  Saviour  extends 
the  prohibition  against  murder  from  the  hand  to  the  heart, 
forbidding,  not  merely  the  act  of  murder,  and  therewith 
every  kind  of  lesser  violence  against  our  neighbours'  persons, 
but  also  all  reproachful  and  insolent  language :  nay,  even 
the  feeling  of  causeless  anger  is  declared  to  be  contrary  to 
the  commandment.  In  the  same  way  he  forbids  us,  not 
merely  to  commit  adultery,  or  any  other  act  of  uncleanness, 
but  even  to  look  upon  a  woman  with  a  wanton  eye.  In 
both  cases  he  forbids,  not  merely  the  gross  outward  act  of 
sin,  but  the  very  least  approach  to  it,  even  in  word  or  ges- 
ture, even  in  wish  or  thought. 


544  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

It  is  easy  to  extend  the  same  principle  to  the  eighth  and 
ninth  commandments.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  our  Saviour, 
had  he  spoken  of  them,  would  have  told  us  to  keep  our 
hands  from  picking,  as  well  as  from  stealing.  He  would 
have  forbidden,  not  only  great  thefts,  but  small  thefts ;  not 
only  open  robbery,  but  secret  robbery ;  not  only  those  greater 
frauds,  which  human  judges  punish,  but  all  that  cheating,  of 
whatsoever  kind,  which  the  laws  of  man  cannot  reach.  All 
extortion,  according  to  this  rule,  comes  under  the  eighth 
commandment.  So  does  the  taking  advantage  of  a  neigh- 
bour's ignorance,  or  of  his  necessities,  to  drive  a  hard  bargain 
with  him.  So  do  all  those  things  which  too  many  reckon 
fair, — such  as  cheating  the  sovereign's  revenue,  smuggling 
and  buying  of  smugglers,  poaching  and  buying  of  poachers  : 
— all  these  are  breaches  of  the  eighth  commandment.  So 
too  the  neglecting  to  pay  our  debts,  and  even  the  running 
into  debt  beyond  what  we  are  quite  sure  of  being  able  to 
pay,  is  a  plain  breach  of  the  eighth  commandment :  because, 
if  I  get  goods  from  a  tradesman,  and  do  not  pay  him  for 
them,  I  cheat  and  defraud  him  of  his  goods,  just  as  much  as 
if  I  carried  them  off  by  stealth. 

The  transition  from  stealing  to  lying,  from  theft  to  false- 
hood, is  but  too  natural  and  easy.  It  is  not  difficult  to  per- 
ceive that  our  Saviour,  had  he  spoken  of  the  ninth  com- 
mandment, would  have  given  that  too  a  like  breadth  and 
depth  of  meaning.  He  would  doubtless  have  told  us  not  to 
lie  at  all,  but  to  speak  truth  in  all  sincerity  every  one  to  his 
neighbour.  He  would  have  taught  us  that  not  only  false 
witnessing  in  a  court  of  justice  is  forbidden  by  the  ninth 
commandment,  but  that  every  uncharitable,  every  harsh, 
every  ill-natured  word,  every  bad  construction  which  we  put 
upon  a  neighbour's  conduct,  every  evil  motive  we  impute  to 
him,  nay,  every  unkind  and  suspicious  thought  which  we 
suffer  ourselves  to  entertain  of  him,  is  bearing  false  witness 
against  him. 


LOVE,    THE    FULFILLING    OF   THE    LAW.  545 


Of  the  tenth  commandment,  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  our 
Saviour,  without  expressly  speaking  of  it,  has  nevertheless 
shewn  us  how  we  ought  to  understand  it,  in  those  many 
passages  of  his  Sermon,  where  he  exhorts  us  to  be  poor  in 
spirit,  to  lay  up  for  ourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  and  not 
on  earth,  and  to  dismiss  all  anxiety  about  the  morrow.  If 
we  act  on  the  principle  of  these  heavenly  precepts,  we  shall 
not  only  abstain  from  coveting  what  belongs  to  our  neigh- 
bour, but  we  shall  never  covet  or  vehemently  desire  anything 
this  earth  can  give. 

Thus  it  appears  that  every  angry  feeling,  every  wanton 
thought,  every  uncharitable  and  suspicious  thought,  every 
unfair  advantage  and  dishonest  trick,  however  it  may  be 
allowed  to  pass  free  by  human  laws,  and  however  customary 
in  men's  dealings  with  each  other, — all  these,  and  all 
manner  of  greediness  after  the  things  of  this  world,  are 
breaches  of  one  or  other  of  the  commandments.  Nothing 
short  of  perfect  kindness,  perfect  purity,  perfect  honesty, 
perfect  truth,  and  perfect  temperance,  will  fulfil  the  law. 
Nothing  short  of  perfect  kindness  ;  because  every  degree  of 
unkindness  is  forbidden  by  the  sixth  commandment :  nothing 
short  of  perfect  purity ;  because  all  impurity  is  forbidden  by 
the  seventh  :  nothing  short  of  perfect  honesty ;  because 
every  kind  of  dishonesty  is  forbidden  by  the  eighth  :  nothing 
short  of  perfect  truth  ;  because  all  falsehood  is  condemned 
by  the  ninth  :  nothing  short  of  perfect  temperance  ;  because 
all  greediness  and  covetous  desires  are  forbidden  by  the 
tenth  commandment. 

Such  are  the  vast  claims  which  God's  law  has  upon  us, 
when  taken  in  its  full  extent.  Now  let  me  ask  you,  for 
claims  like  these  who  can  give  a  receipt  in  full  ?  who  can 
satisfy  them  ?  who  can  hope  to  satisfy  them  in  any  degree  ? 
St.  Paul  tells  us, — not  indeed  how  to  discharge  the  debt,  so 
as  to  be  quit  of  it ;  for  it  cannot  be  discharged :  it  is  per- 

N  N 


54^  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

petually  growing :  therefore,  when  he  says,  "  Owe  no  man 
anything,"  he  brings  in  that  remarkable  exception,  "  but  to 
love  one  another  :"  as  if  he  had  said,  the  debt  of  love  is  one 
which  a  Christian  must  owe  for  ever.  But  though  this  debt 
is  one  which  cannot  be  paid  off  altogether,  St.  Paul  shows 
us  how  we  may  go  on  making  continual  payments  toward 
it,  by  loving  our  neighbour  as  ourselves.  Love  is  the 
fulfilHng  of  the  law.  If  we  had  perfect  love  for  our  neigh- 
bour, we  should  keep  these  commandments  perfectly :  and 
in  proportion  as  love  fills  us,  in  the  same  proportion  shall  we 
fulfil  them.  Love  then  will  enable  us  to  keep  the  command- 
ments :  nothing  else  will, — no  worldly  fear,  no  regard  for 
reputation,  not  even  a  sense  of  duty,  unenlightened  by  the 
spirit  of  love.  These  motives  may  indeed  raise  us  to  the 
level  of  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  :  but 
they  are  not  strong  enough  to  lift  us  up  to  that  height  of 
righteousness,  which  Jesus  Christ  requires  from  his  disciples. 
The  reason  of  this  is  plain.  We  have  a  bias  in  our 
nature.  Therefore  so  long  as  we  attempt  to  bowl  straight  at 
the  mark,  without  making  allowance  for  that  bias,  so  long 
we  shall  be  sure  to  miss  it.  The  bias  I  speak  of  is  self-love^ 
which  we  must  take  care  to  allow  for,  and,  as  it  were,  to 
balance  with  Christian  love.  That  there  is  such  a  bias  in 
our  nature  is  plain.  Else  why  should  we  all  be  such  unfair 
judges  in  our  own  case,  and,  comparatively  speaking,  such 
fair  judges  in  matters  we  are  not  concerned  in?  Any  man 
of  common  sense  can  see  the  rights  of  a  case,  where  the 
question  is  between  neighbour  and  neighbour.  Not  one  in 
ten,  nor  in  fifty,  nor  in  a  hundred,  can  see  the  right  of  the 
case  when  the  question  is  between  his  neighbour  and  him- 
self. Is  not  this  a  plain  proof  that,  in  weighing  the  merits 
of  his  own  case,  he  does  not  use  the  same  scales  and 
weights,  as  he  would  do  in  any  other?  Where  self  is  con- 
cerned, the  weight  of  self-love  is  sure  to  slip  into  one  oi  the 


LOVE,    THE    FULFILLING    OF    THE    LAW.  547 

scales :  and  so  they  become  uneven.  Nor  is  this  to  be 
remedied,  except  by  putting  that  love  of  our  neighbour  into 
the  opposite  scale,  which  Christ,  and  St.  Paul  after  him, 
commands  us  to  cherish  :  for  this  being  such  a  love  as  we 
bear  to  ourselves,  by  weighing  the  one  against  the  other,  the 
balance  will  be  righted,  and  the  scales  will  become  true 
again  .  .  .  alas  !  I  cannot  say  that :  for  who  does  love  his 
neighbour  as  fully,  as  sincerely,  and  as  universally  as  he 
loves  himself?  But  in  the  same  proportion  in  which  we  do 
arrive  at  this  perfect  love,  in  the  same  proportion  as  we  can 
call  up  a  weight  of  love  to  our  neighbour  in  our  hearts,  to 
counterbalance  our  natural  selfishness,  in  the  same  propor- 
tion shall  we  be  fitted  for  fulfilling  the  law. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  consider  how  we  are  to  obtain 
this  love.  St.  Paul  in  another  place  tells  us  that  too.  The 
fruit  of  the  Spirit,  he  says,  is  love.  But  of  what  spirit? 
Why,  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ :  as  it  is  written,  "  When  the 
fullness  of  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a 
woman,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  ye 
might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons.  And  because  ye  are 
sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your 
hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  (Gal.  iv.  4-6.)  By  the  coming 
of  our  Saviour  Christ  we  have  been  adopted  into  God's 
family ;  and  as  an  earnest  of  his  favour,  and  to  enable  us  to 
serve  him  with  the  hearts  of  sons,  God  has  given  us  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  of  which  Spirit  the  fruit  is  love.  This  is  the 
golden  chain  and  succession  and  inheritance  of  blessings  : 
forgiveness,  adoption,  favour,  the  Spirit,  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  And  all  this  succession  and 
inheritance  comes  to  us  as  co-heirs  with  Christ. 

You  see,  brethren,  how  much  cause  you  have  to  be  joyful 
for  Christ's  coming,  seeing  he  has  brought  you  such  heavenly 
gifts.  He  has  opened  your  eyes  to  see  the  breadth  and 
depth  of  God's  commandments.      He  has  given  you  the 


548  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

spirit  of  love,  by  which  alone  it  is  possible  to  fulfil  them. 
He  has  reconciled  you  to  God,  that  you  may  love  God,  and 
has  given  you  the  Spirit,  that  you  may  serve  him.  What 
remains  then,  but  that,  as  you  have  been  taught  the  way  of 
God's  commandments,  so  you  should  strive  to  walk  therein, 
perfecting  holiness  in  the  spirit  of  love  ?  Love,  you  see,  is 
S:  heavenly  growth.  Cultivate  the  plant  then  ;  nourish  it : 
watch  over  it ;  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  nourish  it ;  and 
strengthen  it  in  your  hearts  :  and  its  blossom  shall  be  peace 
in  this  life,  and  its  fruit  everlasting  joy, 


XLV. 
ANSWERABLE,  AND  NOT  ANSWERABLE ; 

OR, 

WILA.T  IS  CONFIRMATION? 

Galatians  vi.  5. 
Every  man  shall  bear  his  own  burthen. 

O  EVERAL  of  you  are  going  ere  long  with  God's  grace 
^  before  the  bishop  to  be  confirmed,  I  will  therefore 
take  this  opportunity  of  saying  a  few  words  to  you  about 
confiniiation.  I  shall  divide  what  I  have  to  say  into  two 
parts.  First  I  shall  tell  you  what  confirmation  is  not ;  and 
next  I  shall  tell  you  what  confirmation  is. 

First  then,  as  to  what  confirmation  is  not :  it  is  not,  what 
some  appear  to  fancy  it  a  taking  of  our  sins  on  our  own 
shoulders.  There  is,  I  believe,  a  notion  held  by  many  per- 
sons, that  a  child's  godfathers  and  godmothers  are  answer- 
able for  its  oft'ences,  until  it  has  been  to  the  bishop ;  after 
which  it  is  bound  to  answer  for  them  itself.  This,  or  some- 
thing like  it,  is  not  an  uncommon  notion  :  but  it  is  a  very 
mistaken  one.  There  is  no  being  answerable,  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  word  is  here  understood,  for  the  sins  of  another. 
Every  one  who  has  a  burthen  to  bear,  must  bear  his  own 
burthen.     Every  one   who  has   sins   to  answer  for,   must 


55C  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

answer  for  his  own  sins.  The  moment  a  child  gets  to  know 
right  from  wrong, — and  children  begin  to  acquire  that  know- 
ledge at  a  very  early  age  indeed, — that  moment  does  it 
likewise  begin  to  be  answerable  before  God  for  what  it  does. 
So  long  as  the  child  did  not  know  right  from  wrong,  so 
long  it  was  incapable  of  sinning :  for  sin  consists  in  doing 
what  we  know,  or  at  least  ought  to  know,  to  be  wrong.  But 
when  the  child  has  learnt  that  there  is  a  difference  between 
right  and  wrong,  it  has  already  begun  to  be  a  reasonable 
creature ;  it  has  already  begun  to  be  answerable  for  its  sins ; 
it  has  already  set  out  on  its  journey  either  toward  heaven  or 
toward  hell. 

Wonder  not  that  I  speak  thus  to  you  of  children.  It  is 
the  neglecting  to  consider  them  in  this  serious  light, — it  is 
the  habit  of  saying,  when  a  child  does  wrong,  "  Oh,  what 
does  it  signify  !  it  is  only  a  child;" — it  is  the  forgetting  the 
trust  which  God  puts  into  the  hands  of  parents,  when  he 
gives  them  children, — that  occasions  half  the  vice  and 
wickedness  in  the  world.  While  the  foolish  parent  is  saying, 
"  It  is  only  a  child," — the  seeds  of  evil  are  taking  root  and 
spreading ;  sinful  habits  are  forming, — habits  of  lying  per- 
haps, or  habits  of  sulkiness,  or  habits  of  greediness,  or 
habits  of  anger  :  and  so  the  child  grows  up  uncorrected  and 
unchecked,  into  a  stubborn  lawless  boy,  or  into  a  bold  bad 
girl,  a  grief  and  shame  to  its  father  and  mother. 

Now  are  we  to  believe  that,  for  all  this  stubbornness  and 
naughtiness  of  all  kinds,  the  boy  and  girl  are  not  answer- 
able, because  the  bishop  has  not  laid  his  hand  on  their 
head,  and  said  a  prayer  over  them  ?  That  can  never  be. 
Verily  they  must  each  bear  his  own  burthen.  The  boy 
must  be  prepared  to  bear  the  burthen  of  his  sins  against 
God, — the  girl  must  be  prepared  to  bear  the  burthen  of  her 
sins  against  God, — whether  they  go  to  be  confirmed  or  not. 
I  say  si?is :  because  there  is  no  child, — none  at  least  that 


WHAT   IS   CONFIRMATION^  55  I 

we  can  have  to  do  with, — but  has  been  taught  the  outlines 
and  elements  of  its  duty.  Every  child  knows  that  it 
ought  to  speak  the  truth  :  every  child  knows  that  it  is 
wicked  not  to  speak  the  truth.  When  a  child  therefore, 
after  knowing  this,  tells  a  lie,  it  sins  a  wilful  sin  against 
God.  What  I  have  said  of  lying,  applies  equally  to  pilfer- 
ing, to  sulkiness,  to  disobedience,  to  the  being  in  a  passion, 
to  a  child's  neglecting  its  lessons,  to  its  not  saying  its  prayers, 
in  a  word  to  every  breach  of  that  which  it  knows  to  be  its 
duty.     They  are  all  sins. 

Is  it  not  foolishness  then  to  imagine  that  the  godfathers 
and  godmothers,  when  they  bring  a  child  to  church,  under- 
take to  bear  the  punishment  of  all  these  sins,  until  the  child 
is  old  enough  to  be  confirmed  ?  No  man  living,  no  man 
that  ever  lived,  can  bear  the  burthen  of  another  man's 
offences,  excepting  only  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  He,  indeed, 
in  the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  did  bear  the  sins  of 
many,  yea,  even  of  the  whole  world  :  "  he  was  wounded  for 
the  transgressions  of  mankind,  and  was  bruised  for  their 
offences  :  and  on  him  was  laid  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  But 
this,  which  is  true  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  because,  being 
God  as  well  as  man,  he  came  on  purpose  to  take  on  himself 
the  punishment  due  to  our  sins,  and  so  to  reconcile  us  to 
the  Father,  neither  is,  nor  can  be  true  of  any  other  man  that 
ever  lived.  Much  less  can  it  be  true  of  every  godfather  and 
godmother.  In  sooth  they  have  all  more  need  to  cast  their 
own  burthens  upon  Christ,  than  to  volunteer  taking  upon 
themselves  the  additional  burthen  of  their  godchild.  The 
thing  is  impossible  :  and  the  notion  of  their  doing  so  is 
altogether  a  mistake.  Read  through  the  service  of  baptism  : 
look  more  especially  at  the  questions  which  are  asked  of 
the  godfathers  and  godmothers,  and  the  answers  they  are 
required  to  make ;  and  from  beginning  to  end  you  will  not 
find  a  single  word  about  their  bearing  the  child's  sins. 


552  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

There  is  indeed  one  sense,  and  that  a  very  important  one, 
in  which  a  child's  godfather  and  godmother,  and  its  teachers, 
and  above  all,  its  parents,  may  all  be  said  to  be  answerable 
for  its  sins  :  and  that  is,  when  they  do  not  te^ch  it  better, 
— when  they  do  not  try  to  check  every  mark  of  evil  that 
they  see  in  it,  mildly  indeed  and  gently,  but  firmly  and  effec- 
tually,— when  they  neglect  any  opportunity  of  turning  its 
heart  and  thoughts  toward  God.  I  spoke  just  now  of  the 
trust  that  God  puts  into  your  hands  when  he  gives  you 
children.  And  can  any  trust  be  greater  than  that  of  an 
innocent  and  immortal  soul,  entrusted  to  its  parents  in  order 
that  they  may  bring  it  up  from  its  infancy  to  fear  and  love 
and  serve  God  for  ever  and  ever  ? 

This  is  the  true  light  to  look  at  children  in.  They  are 
heirs  of  immortality  :  they  are  candidates  for  heaven.  If 
parents  only  thought  of  them  in  this  way,  how  carefully 
would  they  watch  over  them !  how  warmly  and  heartily 
would  they  pray  for  them !  how  anxious  would  they  be  to 
talk  to  them  about  the  great  and  merciful  things  that  Christ 
has  done  and  suffered  for  their  souls  !  These  things  are  not 
above  the  comprehension  of  a  child,  if  told  plainly  and 
simply.  A  very  young  child  may  be  brought  to  understand 
that  it  was  very  good  of  Christ  to  come  down  from  heaven, 
where  he  was  living  gloriously  and  happily,  for  the  sake  of 
teaching  us  and  doing  us  good.  A  very  young  child  may  be 
brought  to  understand  that  it  was  very  good  of  Christ  to 
suffer  pain  and  death  for  our  sakes,  to  make  us  happy.  A 
very  young  child  will  be  ready  to  feel  that  it  ought  to  love 
and  obey  Christ  for  all  this  goodness.  These  things  are  the 
essence  and  foundation  of  Christianity;  and  when  set  before 
a  child  simply  and  affectionately,  they  are  the  very  things 
to  go  to  its  heart.  For  it  happens  still,  as  in  our  Saviour's 
time,  that  these  truths,  though  hidden  from  many  who  in  this 
world  are  wise  and  prudent,  are  yet  within  the  reach  of  babes. 


WHAT    IS    CONFIRMATION?  553 

AVell  then !  if  a  child  can  be  made  to  understand  these 
things, — if  a  child  can  be  brought  to  feel  these  things, — if  a 
child  can  be  taught  to  love  and  obey  Christ,  to  fear  God,  to 
lift  up  its  little  hands  in  prayer,— it  is  the  first  duty,  and 
ought  to  be  the  greatest  pleasure  of  parents  to  teach  their 
children  all  these  good  things.  And  what  excuse  can  there 
be  for  the  father  and  mother  who  fiiil  to  do  so  ?  Verily  that 
father  and  that  mother  are  guilty  before  God,— guilty  of 
having  neglected  to  do  what  they  were  bound  to  do,  for  the 
sake  of  saving  their  child  from  sin  and  death, — guilty  of 
having  starved  its  soul,  by  keeping  it  without  the  words  of 
everlasting  life.  Therefore,  though  it  is  most  certain  that 
every  child  must  bear  the  burthen  of  its  own  wilful  sins,  it  is 
equally  certain  that  those  parents  who  have  failed  to  bring 
up  their  children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord,  are  answerable  to  God  for  their  neglect ;  and  the  bur- 
then of  it  will  fall  on  them.  So  that  to  such  careless  parents, 
and  to  their  ill-taught  wicked  children,  we  may  apply  the 
awful  words  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel  (iii.  i8) :  "  When  I  say 
to  the  wicked,  Thou  shalt  surely  die, — and  thou  givest  him 
no  warning,  nor  speakest  to  warn  him  from  his  wicked  way, 
to  save  his  life,  he  shall  die  in  his  iniquity  ;  but  his  blood 
will  I  require  at  thy  hand."  The  wicked  children  shall  die 
in  their  iniquity ;  but  God  will  require  their  blood  at  the 
hands  of  their  neglectful  parents, — of  their  parents  who  are 
guilty  of  their  blood,  shall  I  say?  ah  no  !  worse,  far  worse  ! 
who  by  their  wicked  negligence  are  guilty  of  their  children's 
everlasting  death.  Can  such  guilt  be  light  in  God's  eyes  ? 
No  guilt  can  be  hght,  by  which  souls  are  lost  to  heaven,  and 
led  to  the  brink  of  hell.  Avoid  it  then,  I  entreat  you,  all 
ye  parents,  by  training  up  your  sons  and  daughters  in  the 
way  they  should  go,  by  fulfilling  the  trust  which  God  has 
committed  to  you,  by  caring  as  much,  and  doing  as  much,  ibr 
the  souls  of  your  children,  as  you  care  and  do  for  their  bodies. 


554  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

What  I  have  been  saying  of  natural  fathers  and  mothers, 
applies  in  a  degree  to  godfathers  and  godmothers.  They 
too  have  a  sacred  trust,  a  trust  which  they  are  the  more 
bound  to  fulfil,  because  they  have  undertaken  it  of  their 
own  accord.  No  one  can  force  you  or  me  to  come  to 
church  and  stand  godfather  to  this  or  that  child.  The  act, 
when  we  do  so,  is  altogether  voluntary.  Therefore,  after 
taking  the  duty  on  ourselves  by  our  own  free  choice,  we  are 
surely  bound  to  fulfil  it  faithfully.  Now  what  is  that  duty  ? 
The  Prayerbook  tells  us  in  the  following  words,  which  are 
addressed  to  the  godfathers  and  godmothers  at  the  end  of  the 
baptismal  service :  "  Forasmuch  as  the  child  has  promised 
by  you,  his  sureties,  to  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his  works, 
to  believe  in  God,  and  to  serve  him,  you  must  remember, 
that  it  is  your  part  and  duty  to  see  that  he  be  taught,  as  soon 
as  he  is  able  to  learn,  what  a  solemn  vow,  promise,  and 
profession  he  has  here  made  by  you.  And  you  are  to  pro- 
vide, or  to  take  care,  that  he  may  be  brought  up  virtuously, 
to  lead  a  godly  and  christian  life."  Such  is  the  duty  of  a 
godfather  and  godmother :  such,  and  no  other,  the  burthen 
they  really  take  upon  themselves.  They  are  not  answerable 
for  the  sins  of  their  godchild  :  but  they  are  answerable 
before  God  and  man,  for  doing  their  best  to  have  their  god- 
child properly  taught  his  duty,  and  brought  up  to  lead  a 
christian  and  godly  life. 

But  perhaps  you  will  tell  me,  that,  in  the  present  state  of 
things,  no  godfather  is  able  to  see  to  this,  however  he  may 
wish  it :  and  undoubtedly  there  is  some  truth  in  such  an 
objection.  For  no  godfather  is  entitled  to  go  uncalled  for 
into  his  neighbour's  house,  and  interfere  with  him  in  the 
bringing  up  of  his  child.  This  is  certainly  true.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  one  need  be  a  godfather,  unless  he  pleases ; 
and  no  one  ought  to  stand  godfather  to  a  child,  unless  he 
has  reason  to  believe,  from  what  he  knows  of  its  parents, 


WHAT  IS   CONFIRMATION?  555 

that  it  will  be  brought  up  in  a  godly  manner,  or  unless  he  is 
prepared,  in  case  the  parents  are  neglectful,  to  take  its 
religious  instruction  upon  himself.  If  an  irreligious  and  un- 
godly father  were  to  ask  me  to  stand  godfather  to  his  son,  I 
should  certainly  feel  it  my  duty  to  refuse,  unless  I  could 
expect  that  I  should  be  allowed  to  watch  over  the  boy's 
education  myself.  Anything  is  better  than  undertaking  a 
trust,  and  then  not  fulfilling  it.  In  point  of  fact  however, 
the  duty  of  godfathers  and  godmothers  is  not  so  very  difficult 
to  perform,  if  they  set  about  it  in  earnest  and  in  the  right  way. 
For  generally  they  are  the  child's  near  relations :  so  that 
they  are  in  the  habit  of  seeing  it  from  its  infancy,  and  can 
take  it  on  their  knees,  and  hear  it  say  its  little  prayers, 
almost  as  soon  as  it  can  speak.  And  only  think  how 
grateful  the  child,  when  it  grows  up,  and  has  learnt  to  feel 
the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  will  be  to  its  god- 
father for  having  taken  such  early  notice  of  it,  and  taught  it 
to  pray  and  to  think  of  God.  It  will  look  on  him  as  indeed 
its  godfather,  the  father  of  its  religion,  the  father  of  its  piety, 
the  father  who  has  done  the  most  to  bring  it  to  the  know- 
ledge and  love  of  God. 

I  have  said  the  more  on  this  head,  because  I  am  afraid 
the  office  of  godfathers  and  godmothers  is  too  often  under- 
taken without  due  consideration,  and  looked  upon  as  little 
better  than  a  mere  form.  But  this  is  a  false  and  worldly 
view.  They  have  a  duty  to  discharge,  as  we  have  seen,  and 
that  duty  a  very  important  one.  They  are  to  feel,  and  to 
shew  an  interest  about  the  child's  spiritual  welfare.  They 
are  to  embrace  every  opportunity  of  teaching  it  the  way  of 
God.  This  is  what  they  really  take  upon  themselves  by 
becoming  sureties  for  the  infant :  this  it  is  their  part  and 
duty  to  perform  :  and  if  they  omit  to  do  so,  they  will  have, 
for  such  neglect  of  their  duty,  to  bear,  not  their  godchild's 
burthen,  but  their  own. 


55^  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

Thus  you  see,  the  meaning  of  confirmation  is  not,  what 
some  seem  to  think  it,  that  the  child,  when  it  is  confirmed, 
takes  its  sins  upon  its  own  shoulders.  What  then  is  its 
meaning?  and  for  what  purpose  are  children,  when  they 
come  to  years  of  discretion,  carried  before  the  bishop  to  be 
confirmed  ?  To  confirm  a  thing  is  to  give  some  new  assu- 
rance of  its  truth,  to  establish  it  on  fresh  grounds,  and  to 
make  it  more  certain.  If  a  man  bears  witness  in  a  court  of 
justice,  and  I  come  forward  and  say  that  1  know  his  witness 
to  be  true,  I  am  said  to  confirm  his  testimony.  So,  when  a 
man  makes  a  bargain  or  an  agreement  for  me,  and  I  write 
word  that  I  approve  of  it,  I  am  said  to  confirm  that  bargain 
or  agreement.  Now  this  is  just  what  you  are  required  to  do, 
when  you  go  before  the  bishop  to  be  confirmed.  Your 
godfathers  and  godmothers  having  made  an  agreement  for 
you,  that  Christ  shall  be  your  Lord,  and  that  you  will  be 
his  servants,  this  agreement  you  are  to  confirm,  by  declaring 
publicly  that  you  approve  of  it  and  consent  to  it.  For  this 
reason,  before  the  bishop  lays  his  hands  on  any  of  those  who 
come  to  him,  he  asks  them  all  this  question  :  "  Do  you  here, 
in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  this  congregation,  renew  the 
solemn  promise  and  vow  that  was  made  in  your  name  at 
your  baptisms,  ratifying  and  confirming  the  same  in  your 
own  persons,  and  acknowledging  yourselves  bound  to  be- 
lieve and  to  do  those  things  which  your  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers then  undertook  for  you?"  And  everyone  who. 
goes  to  be  confirmed,  is  then  to  answer,  *'  I  do  ;"  that  is, 
"  I  do  here  renew  the  solemn  promise  which  was  made  in 
my  name  at  my  baptism,  that  I  should  faithfully  serve  and 
obey  God :  I  do  here,  as  it  were,  set  my  hand  and  seal  to 
the  promise,  as  I  would  to  any  law-paper  or  covenant.  I 
do  hereby  confirm  the  promise,  and  declare  that  I  approve 
of  it ;  and  by  God's  grace  I  will  keep  it  to  the  end  of  ray 
liie." 


WHAT    IS    CONFIRMATION?  557 

This  is  the  promise  which  you  are  called  upon  to  make, 
before  the  bishop  lays  his  hand  upon  your  head.  You  are 
called  upon  to  choose  the  master  you  will  serve,  and  the 
way  of  life  you  will  follow,  to  declare  that  choice  openly, 
and  to  promise  solemnly  that  you  will  abide  by  it.  The 
choice  must  be  your  own,  the  resolve  and  purpose  of  your 
own  soul,  of  your  own  reason,  of  your  own  conscience. 
When  you  were  infants,  and  unable  to  promise  for  yourselves, 
your  godfathers  and  godmothers  made  the  promise  for  you. 
You  promised  then  by  proxy,  as  we  call  it :  but  nobody  can 
keep  God's  commandments  by  proxy.  Else  you  would  find 
that  you  would  only  go  to  heaven  by  proxy :  and  it  will  be 
small  comfort  to  us,  when  we  are  lying  in  torments,  like  the 
rich  man  in  the  parable,  to  look  up  and  see  our  godfathers 
and  godmothers  happy  in  heaven.  Therefore,  now  that  you 
are  old  enough  to  promise  for  yourselves,  you  are  called 
upon  to  confirm  the  promises  which  were  made  in  your 
names  when  you  were  children  :  you  are  to  take  those  vows 
upon  yourselves,  and  having  done  so,  to  keep  them. 

But  can  you  keep  them  ?  What  says  the  Scripture  ?  It 
is  God  that  giveth  us  both  to  will,  and  to  do.  Without 
God's  help  we  can  neither  do,  nor  even  will.  A  man  can 
no  more  raise  himself  up  to  heaven  by  his  own  natural 
strength,  than  a  stone  can  raise  itself  from  the  ground  and 
fly  upward.  But  that,  which  we  are  quite  unable  to  do  for 
ourselves,  God  is  merciful  enough  to  do  for  us.  The  Son  of 
man  was  lifted  up,  that  he  might  draw,  or  lift  up  all  things 
to  him.  Jesus  Christ,  from  his  victorious  cross,  looks  down 
on  us,  and  stretches  out  the  right  hand  of  his  mercy  to  us  : 
if  we  will  only  lay  hold  of  it,  he  will  lift  us  up.  In  this  way 
we  may  all  get  out  of  the  slough  of  sin,  and  rise  from  it  to 
holiness  in  this  world,  and  to  heaven  hereafter.  A  stone 
may  be  raised  above  the  ground,  if  any  one  will  stoop  to 
pick  it  up  :  and  so  may  we.     "  What  then  !  "  do  you  ask, 


55S  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

''are  we  no  better  than  stones?"  Would  that  we  were  as 
good  !  For  the  stone  makes  no  resistance,  but  quietly  lets 
itself  be  lifted  up :  whereas  we  do  resist  God,  when  he 
would  draw  us  up  to  hiin.  We  have  a  will  which  the  stone 
has  not :  and  that  will  too  often  strives  against  God's  will, 
instead  of  striving  with  it.  For  this  is  the  real  difference 
between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  The  righteous  try- 
to  make  God's  will  their  will,  and  to  do  as  God  would  have 
them,  trusting  that  God  of  his  goodness  will  grant  them 
strength  to  do,  what  they  cannot  do  of  themselves.  The 
wicked  man,  on  the  other  hand,  chooses  to  have  a  will  of 
his  own,  and  does  not  choose  to  obey  God.  He  either 
gives  himself  no  trouble  at  all,  and  leads  a  life  of  slothful 
self-indulgence  :  or,  if  he  does  take  thought,  it  is  not  how 
to  do  right,  but  how  to  do  wrong,  in  the  safest  and 
pleasantest  manner.  He  considers  how  he  may  cheat  with- 
out being  found  out,  how  he  may  lead  some  innocent  girl 
astray, — how,  in  short,  he  may  compass  the  particular 
wickedness  which  his  heart  happens  to  be  set  upon.  Is  not 
such  a  man  worse  than  a  stone  ?  Would  it  not  be  easier  to 
roll  a  stone  up  the  highest  hill  in  England,  than  to  raise 
such  a  man  out  of  his  sins  ?  Such  a  man,  do  I  call  him  ? 
rather  such  a  corpse  !  A  dead  man  is  a  corpse ;  and  the 
wicked  man  is  dead,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  :  how  then, 
without  a  miracle,  is  such  a  dead  corpse  to  be  raised  to 
newness  of  life  ? 

Such  being  our  case, — seeing  that  we  have  no  strength  of 
ourselves  to  help  ourselves,  and  all  our  strength  and  suffi- 
ciency being  from  God, — so  gracious  is  God,  that  he  has 
made  a  covenant  with  us  by  baptism,  which  covenant  he 
will  confirm,  when  you  confirm  your  part  of  it.  So  that, 
when  you  go  before  the  bishop,  there  will  be  a  twofold  con- 
firmation. You  will  have  to  confirm  the  promises  and  vows 
which  your  godfathers  and  godmothers    made  for  you  at 


WHAT    IS    CONFIRMATION?  559 

your  baptism  ;  and  God  will  confirm  all  that  he  promised  at 
your  baptism  to  do  for  you,  provided  you  go  to  him  with 
faith  and  prayer  :  not  without.  If  you  go,  as  you  would  to 
a  merrymaking,  or  because  it  is  the  custom,  without  think- 
ing well  of  the  business  you  are  about,  without  fully  pur- 
posing from  the  bottom  of  your  hearts  to  keep  your  promise 
of  obeying  and  loving  God,  it  will  be  a  mere  mockery  of 
our  heavenly  Judge  :  and  you  will  receive  no  benefit.  But 
to  those  who  really  wish  to  do  as  God  would  have  them  do, 
— to  those  who  really  trust  that  God  will  forgive  them  all 
their  past  sins, — to  those  who  earnestly  pray  to  God  to  give 
them  repentance  and  faith, — to  all  such,  be  assured  of  it, 
God  will  confirm  his  promises.  He  will  forgive  them,  and 
will  send  them  his  Holy  Spirit.  He  will  give  them  the 
spirit  of  knowledge,  that  they  may  judge  aright, — the  spirit 
of  wisdom  and  understanding,  that  they  may  believe  aright, 
— the  spirit  of  strength  and  godUness,  that  they  may  do 
aright  and  follow  a  holy  course  unto  their  lives'  end. 
This  is  God's  confirmation  :  happy  they  who  have  a  part 
in  it! 

Your  confirmation,  on  the  other  hand,  will  consist  in 
your  declaring  that  you  assent  to  all  that  was  promised  in 
your  name  at  your  baptism,  and  in  your  undertaking  to 
fulfil  it.  You  are  to  do  this  by  your  own  act  and  deed, 
by  your  own  choice.  Two  roads  are  set  before  you, — the 
upward  road,  which  leads  to  heaven, — and  the  downward 
road,  which  leads  to  hell.  Two  masters  are  bidding  for  your 
services, — God,  who  invites  you  to  heaven, — and  the  devil, 
who  would  lure  you  to  hell.  Some  master  you  must  choose  ; 
about  that  there  is  no  choice.  Some  way  you  must  walk 
in  :  there  is  no  standing  still  in  this  world.  If  you  do  not 
strive  to  mount  against  the  stream,  it  will  sweep  you  along 
with  it.  Your  reason,  I  am  sure,  finds  no  difficulty  in  the 
choice.     You  are  ready  to  cry  out,  "  I  will  obey  God,  and 


560  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

not  the  devil,  that  rebelHous,  that  lying  spirit,  who  seeks  to 
ensnare  and  destroy  me."  This,  I  am  sure,  is  the  language 
of  your  reason.  But  what  say  your  wishes  ?  what  say  your 
lives?  For,  if  they  do  the  devil's  will,  you  must  be  the 
devil's  servants.  Perhaps,  however,  you  will  ask,  whether 
it  be  not  possible  to  obey  them  both  a  Httle, — God  in  all 
those  parts  of  duty  which  are  easy, — and  the  devil  in  one  or 
two  wrong  practices,  which  you  are  very  fond  of.  My 
young  friends,  it  is  not  possible.  Jesus  Christ  himself  tells 
us  so  plainly :  "  No  man  can  serve  two  masters."  God 
commands  you  to  serve  him  with  the  whole  of  your  heart : 
will  you  think  of  putting  him  off  with  half?  If  you  do,  he 
will  reject  you :  he  will  have  the  whole,  or  none. 

If  our  sovereign  and  country  were  in  danger,  and  we  were 
required  to  enlist  and  march  to  London  to  protect  them, 
what  would  you  think  of  a  man,  who  would  say  that  he 
had  not  made  up  his  mind  whether  he  would  enlist  and 
march  or  no  ?  Would  you  not  think  he  must  either  be  a 
coward,  or  half  a  traitor  ?  So  will  Christ  think  of  you,  if, 
when  he  calls  you  by  his  ministers  to  confirm  the  promises 
made  in  your  name,  that  you  would  serve  and  fight  under 
him,  you  delay  and  hold  back,  because  you  cannot  make 
up  your  mind  whether  you  will  be  his  or  no.  But  you  have 
already  made  your  choice.  You  are  going  ere  long  openly 
before  the  Church  to  renounce  the  devil,  that  cruel  tyrant, 
whose  design  is  to  draw  you  away  from  your  heavenly 
Father,  and  to  make  you  rebels  and  outcasts  like  himself 
Him  therefore,  and  all  that  he  tempts  you  to,  you  are  going 
to  renounce.  God,  and  not  Satan,  you  are  going  to  pro- 
mise, shall  be  your  master  for  the  time  to  come.  You  will 
serve  the  Father,  who  made  you,  the  Son,  who  bought 
you  with  his  own  blood,  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  ofiiers  to 
come  and  dwell  in  your  hearts,  and  to  make  you  pure  and 
holy  like  himself.     You  mean  well  then,  and  promise  fairly. 


WHAT   IS    CONFIRMATION?  561 

But  mind  :  the  promise  must  be  kept.  "  Remember  thy 
Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,"  said  the  wisest  man  that 
ever  lived.  Give  your  hearts  to  God,  while  they  are  yet 
young  and  tender.  Do  not  offer  your  first-fruits  to  the 
devil :  nor  think  to  cheat  the  God  of  heaven  with  the  chaff 
and  refuse  of  old  age.  Watch  and  pray  that  you  enter  not 
into  temptation.  Watch  :  for  you  know  neither  the  day, 
nor  the  hour,  when  your  Master  cometh.  Pray  without 
ceasing  :  for  your  strength  must  come  from  God,  and  from 
him  only  :  and  the  help,  which  you  do  not  think  worth 
asking  for,  he  will  not  give.  The  Holy  Ghost,  we  are  told, 
is  like  a  lamp.  As  a  lamp  must  be  fed  with  oil,  or  else  it 
will  go  out,  so  must  the  flames  of  holiness,  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  will  kindle  in  your  hearts,  be  kept  alive  and  burning 
by  prayer. 

But  you  have  not  only  a  master,  you  have  also  a  way  to 
choose.  There  are  two  ways  before  you  :  one  is  the  narrow 
way  which  leads  to  life;  the  other  is  the  broad  way,  and 
leads  to  destruction.  The  broad  way  gives  room  for  many 
travellers  abreast.  It  is  smooth  and  easy  to  the  feet.  Its 
hedges  are  full  of  trees,  with  fine-looking  fruit  on  them, 
sweet  to  the  taste  and  pleasant  to  the  eye,  like  the  forbidden 
fruit  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  I  will  not  disguise  the  truth 
from  you :  the  ways  of  sin  to  the  natural  man  do  at  first 
seem  pleasant.  But  they  end  in  destruction  :  the  fruit  is 
poison :  whoever  eats  of  it  will  either  die,  or  grieve  bitterly 
over  his  sin,  and  wish  a  thousand  times  he  had  never  been 
guilty  of  it.  As  for  companions,  whoever  takes  that  road 
will  be  sure  of  finding  plenty  of  them.  All  the  wicked,  all 
the  reprobate,  all  the  children  of  the  devil,  the  drunkard,  the 
fornicator,  the  scorner,  the  sabbath-breaker,  the  dishonest, 
the  uncharitable,  the  hard-hearted, — all  these  take  the 
downward  road.  But  besides  these  companions  without, 
there  are  others  that  are  sure  to  start  up  in  a  man's  own 

o  o 


562  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

heart,  sooner  or  later,  if  he  takes  the  way  which  leads  to 
death.  Fear,  shame,  anguish,  remorse,  all  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord,  beset  that  road  like  a  band  of  thieves :  and  no  one 
can  take  it  and  escape  them.  Do  you  fear  grief?  do  you 
fear  shame?  do  you  dread  the  stings  of  a  troubled  con- 
science ?  are  you  afraid  of  the  bottomless  pit  ?  Go  not 
along  the  broad  way  which  leads  to  destruction. 

Rather  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,  and  take  your  journey 
upward  along  the  narrow  way, — narrow  only  to  those  who 
come  over  to  it  from  the  broad  one,  but  open  from  the 
beginning,  and  easy  enough  of  entrance  to  you,  in  whose 
souls  by  God's  grace  goodness  is  not  a  thing  unnatural. 
When  a  man  is  swollen  and  puffed  up  by  sin,  no  wonder 
he  finds  it  a  hard  matter  to  squeeze  through  the  strait  gate  : 
he  can  only  do  so  by  leaving  his  bag  of  vices  behind  him. 
This  however  cannot  yet  be  the  case  with  you.  It  is  but  a 
few  years  since  you  were  numbered  among  those  innocents, 
of  whom  Christ  says,  that  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Though  no  others  can  enter  into  the  path  of  godliness  with- 
out such  pain  and  difficulty,  that  our  Saviour  likens  it  to 
being  born  again,  yet  as  little  children,  we  are  told,  we  may 
enter  into  it  easily.  And  you  were  little  children  so  lately, 
that  I  doubt  not  you  still  may  enter  into  it,  and  walk  in  it, 
if  you  only  strive  to  enter  in  and  pray  to  Jesus  to  let  you  in. 
Never  mind  the  thorns  and  the  rough  places  you  may 
meet  with  at  first  starting.  Do  not  be  discouraged  by  the 
labour  of  beginning  to  climb  the  hill  of  godliness,  along  the 
steep  and  narrow  way.  The  higher  you  mount,  the  air  will 
grow  clearer,  the  light  stronger,  and  your  prospects  wider 
and  more  beautiful.  You  know  how  delightful  and  cheering 
it  is  to  stand  at  the  top  of  a  hill :  where  nevertheless  you 
see  only  earthly  things,  and  are  braced  only  by  common  air. 
Judge  then,  how  delightful  must  be  the  hill  of  godliness, 
where  you  will  catch  a  prospect  of  spiritual  things,  and  be 


WHAT    IS    CONFIRMATION?  563 

cheered  and  braced  by  gales  from  heaven.  Moreover  you 
will  be  fed  with  angels'  food.  The  Holy  Ghost  will  spread 
out  a  plentiful  table  for  you,  of  contented  thoughts  and 
heavenly  desires,  love,  peace,  joy,  hope,  comfort.  These 
will  be  your  supports.  These  will  be  your  visitors.  Do 
you  meet  with  tribulations  ?  they  shall  end.  Have  you 
sorrows  to  endure  ?  they  shall  cease.  For  death  will  come, 
not  the  enemy,  not  the  avenger,  but  that  quiet  peaceful  death 
which  receives  the  Christian  into  its  arms,  and  carries  him 
out  of  this  Hfe  into  a  better. 

And  now,  my  dear  children,  I  beseech  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  will  grant  you  to  be  strengthened 
by  his  Spirit,  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith, 
and  that  you  may  love  him  and  obey  him  unto  your  lives' 
end. 

Before  I  conclude  however  let  me  turn  for  a  moment  to 
you  who  are  ol,der,  and  who  were  confirmed  perhaps  many 
years  ago.  You  have  already  made  this  solemn  promise. 
You  have  already  declared  before  God  and  the  Church, 
that  you  were  determined  to  be  God's  people.  Have  you  kept 
your  promise  ?  It  is  registered  against  you.  You  may  have 
forgotten  it :  but  God  remembers  it,  and  the  devil  remem- 
bers it.  He  who  is  now  your  tempter,  will  then  be  your 
accuser,  and  will  urge  your  promise  against  you  before  the 
throne  of  Christ.  Yet  fear  not,  ye  who  are  pious,  but  timid  : 
fear  not  on  account  of  your  backslidings,  ye  who  truly  grieve 
and  repent  of  them :  fear  not  the  malice  of  the  adversary. 
Turn  for  mercy  to  your  God  and  Saviour  :  throw  yourselves 
at  his  feet :  entreat  him  to  forgive  you,  and  to  raise  you  up 
to  a  new  and  better  life  of  christian  holiness :  and  he  will 
bear  your  burthens. 


XLVI. 

GOD'S  PATIENCE,  AND  MAN'S  PERVERSENESS. 

Romans  ii.  4,  5. 

Despisest  thou  the  riches  of  God's  goodness  and  forbearance 
and  long-suffering ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God 
leadeth  thee  to  repentance  ?  But  after  thy  hardness  and 
impenitent  heart  treasurest  up  to  thyself  wrath  against  the 
day  of  wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of 
God. 

nPHIS  question,  I  fear,  is  still  as  applicable  to  some  in 
■*-  every  christian  congregation,  as  it  can  have  been  to  the 
Romans  when  St.  Paul  asked  it.  Therefore  it  should  be 
asked  in  every  congregation  from  time  to  time.  And  what 
occasion  can  be  fitter,  what  season  more  suitable  for  asking 
it,  than  when  by  God's  mercy  we  have  just  been  brought 
to  the  close  of  a  year  in  safety,  and  are  about  to  step  as  it 
were  out  of  the  old  year  into  a  new  one  ?  At  such  a  season 
it  cannot  be  ill  for  us, — rather  must  it  be  our  duty,  to  halt  a 
while  and  take  breath,  to  look  back  over  the  ground  we  have 
been  crossing  the  last  twelve  months,  to  look  forward  to  the 
point  we  should  be  making  for,  and  thus  to  find  out  whether 
during  the  last  year  we  have  indeed  been  travelling  toward 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  walking  on  the  road  that  leads 
to  life.  If  not,  if  we  have  not  been  walking  along  the  road, 
and  walking  too  pretty  briskly — if  we  have  been  sauntering, 


god's  patience,  and  man's  perverseness.       565 

or  stopping,  or  sleeping,  on  our  journey, — much  more  if  we 
have  been  going  backward,  Hke  some, — or  have  broken 
away  from  the  path,  Hke  others,  and  have  lost  sight  of  God 
and  heaven, — great  reason  shall  we  have  to  ask  ourselves, 
why  God  has  continued  us  so  long  in  life?  and  what  will 
happen  to  us,  if  we  go  on  to  the  end  as  negligently,  or  as 
slothfully,  or  as  crookedly,  or  as  wrongfully,  as  we  have  been 
going  on  the  last  year  ? 

Do  not  take  it  for  granted,  I  beseech  you,  that  you  have 
been  going  on  right :  look  carefully  whether  you  have  or 
not.  The  road  of  life  is  not  a  turnpike  road.  It  is  a  path 
which  every  one  must  find  out  for  himself,  by  the  help  of 
such  directions  as  God  has  given  us :  and  there  are  so  many 
other  paths  crossing  the  true  one  in  all  quarters,  and  the 
wrong  paths  are  so  well  beaten,  and  the  true  path  in  places 
is  so  faintly  marked,  so  many  persons  too  are  always  going 
the  wrong  way,  and  so  few  are  walking  straight  along  the 
right,  that  between  the  number  of  paths  to  puzzle  him,  and 
the  number  of  wrong  examples  to  lead  him  astray,  a  man,  if 
he  does  not  take  continual  heed,  is  in  great  danger  of  turning 
into  a  wrong  path,  almost  without  perceiving  it.  You  know 
how  hard  it  is  for  a  stranger  to  find  his  way  over  the  downs, 
especially  if  the  evening  is  dark  and  foggy.  Yet  there  the 
man  is  at  liberty  to  make  out  the  path  as  well  as  he  can. 
No  one  tries  to  mislead  him.  But  in  the  paths  of  life  there 
are  always  plenty  of  companions  at  work  to  mislead  the 
Christian  ;  to  say  nothing  of  his  own  evil  passions  and  appe- 
tites, which  all  pull  him  out  of  the  way.  One  neighbour 
says  to  him,  "  Take  this  road  :  it  is  almost  as  straight  as  the 
other,  and  much  pleasanter."  Another  says,  "  Take  this 
road  :  it  is  a  short  cut,  and  will  save  you  a  world  of  trouble." 
A  third  says,  "  Walk  part  of  the  way  with  us  for  company's 
sake :  you  cannot  be  far  wrong  il  you  keep  with  us  :  at 
worst  it  is  only  crossing  back  into  your  narrow  lonely  path 


566  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

if  you  don't  like  our  way  after  trying  it."  A  fourth  cries  to 
him,  "What  makes  you  so  particular?  Do  you  fancy  you 
know  the  road  to  heaven  better  than  anybody  else?  We 
are  all  going  there,  we  hope,  as  well  as  you,  though  we 
do  not  make  such  a  fuss  about  it."  Is  it  a  wonder  that,  with 
so  many  bad  advisers,  and  bad  examples  to  lure  him  astray, 
with  so  many  wrong  paths  to  puzzle  him,  with  so  many  evil 
passions  as  man  has  naturally  pulling  him  out  of  the  straight 
and  narrow  path, — is  it  a  wonder,  I  say,  that,  with  all  these 
things  to  lead  them  wrong,  men  should  so  often  go  wrong  ? 
It  is  no  wonder :  nay,  were  it  not  that  God's  word  is  a  lan- 
tern to  our  feet,  and  a  light  to  our  path, — were  it  not  for 
the  Spirit  of  God  crying  to  us,  "This  is  the  right  way," 
when  we  turn  aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left, — we 
should  all  of  us  go  wrong  always.  Even  as  it  is,  with  all  our 
helps,  we  have  too  much  cause  to  cry.  We  have  erred  and 
strayed  from  the  right  way  like  lost  sheep  and  have  gone 
after  a  multitude  to  do  evil,  and  have  followed  the  devices 
and  desires  of  our  own  hearts,  instead  of  walking  in  God's 
most  holy  laws. 

Why  do  I  remind  you  of  these  things,  brethren,  at  the 
present  season  ?  In  order  to  press  upon  you  how  necessary 
it  is  for  us  to  stop  on  our  journey  from  time  to  time,  to  look 
well  back  over  the  ground  we  have  been  treading,  and  to 
satisfy  ourselves  that  we  are  indeed  pursuing  the  road  which 
leads  to  life.  If  not,  if  we  have  fallen  into  any  evil  course, 
if  any  sinful  practice,  any  bad  passion,  any  worldly  lust  has 
stolen  upon  us  and  grown  up  within  us,  if  we  have  no  more 
meekness,  or  kindness,  or  purity,  or  honesty,  or  truth,  or 
holiness,  than  we  had  a  year  ago,  then  the  question  in  the 
text  should  make  us  tremble.  For  be  sure  it  is  addressed  to 
us.  To  us,  for  sinning,  and  continuing  impenitent,  and 
bearing  so  little  fruit,  to  each  of  us  St.  Paul  says  now,  as  he 
said  formerly  to  the  sinners  of  his  own  time  :  "  Despisest  thou 


god's  patience,  and  man's  perverseness.       567 

the  riches  of  God's  goodness  and  forbearance  and  long- 
suffering,  not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  leadeth 
thee  to  repentance  ?  Art  thou  ignorant  that  by  thy  hardness 
and  impenitent  heart  thou  art  treasuring  up  for  thyself 
wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God  ?" 

In  this  question  there  are  three  things  well  worth  pon- 
dering :  first,  God's  reason  for  sparing  our  lives,  namely,  to 
lead  us  to  repentance  ;  and  the  cause  which  moves  him  to 
desire  us  to  repent,  namely,  his  goodness :  secondly,  the 
return  which  the  sinner,  in  the  hardness  and  impenitence  of 
his  heart,  makes  to  God  for  his  goodness,  namely,  despising 
and  throwing  away  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  him,  an 
opportunity  so  precious  that  St.  Paul  calls  it  the  riches  of 
God's  goodness  and  forbearance :  thirdly,  the  fatal  end  of 
all  this  hardness  and  impenitence,  that  by  it  we  lay  up  a 
treasure  of  wrath  for  ourselves  against  the  day  of  \vrath.  In 
otl;er  words,  the  text  teaches  us  three  things, — that  God  is 
merciful  and  would  have  us  repent, — that  many  men  are  so 
hardened  and  perverse,  they  will  not  profit  by  God's  mercy, 
— and  that,  if  we  persist  in  rejecting  God's  mercy,  we  must 
abide  the  outpouring  of  his  anger. 

In  the  first  place  God  is  merciful,  and  would  have  us 
repent.  This  is  the  reason  why  he  spares  so  many  bold 
offenders.  After  death  the  door  of  penitence  is  closed  :  as 
the  tree  falls,  so  it  must  lie.  Therefore  he  mercifully  con- 
tinues us  in  life,  for  the  purpose  of  leading  us  to  repent- 
ance,— of  leading  us,  mind,  not  dragging  us.  It  is  by  the 
cords  of  a  man,  as  the  prophet  Hosea  (xi.  4)  calls  them,  that 
our  heavenly  Father  would  draw  us  to  him.  He  would 
bring  us  nearer  to  him  by  our  heart-strings.  So  he  some- 
times takes  hold  of  one  string,  and  sometimes  of  another, 
that  by  one  or  more  of  them  he  may  pull  us  to  him.  At 
one  time  he  tries  to  win  us  by  mercies,  at  another  to  frighten 


568  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

US  by  judgments.  He  is  for  ever  teaching  us  by  his  deal- 
ings toward  our  neighbours  and  ourselves,  that  the  truest 
wisdom  is  to  fear  God,  that  blessings  are  on  the  head  of  the 
pious  and  the  just,  that  he  who  walketh  uprightly  walketh 
surely,  that  God  loveth  and  careth  for  the  righteous.  The 
whole  machine  of  his  providence  is  at  work,  to  prove  to  us 
that  we  can  gain  nothing  by  disobeying  him.  All  the  time 
he  spares  us,  his  eye  and  hand  are  upon  us,  to  guide  us,  to 
loosen  us  from  earth,  to  gain  us  over  to  godliness  of  living. 
Does  he  see  us  setting  up  some  earthly  idol  in  our  hearts  ? 
He  takes  it  away,  and  makes  us  feel  that  this  world  has 
nothing  stable  in  it.  Does  he  see  us  indulging  in  forbidden 
pleasures  ?  He  makes  us  taste  their  bitterness  and  gall.  So 
with  regard  to  every  other  sin,  which  can  ensnare  the  heart 
of  man,  he  takes  care  to  order  matters  in  such  wise,  that 
we  shall  often  be  baffled,  that  the  trouble  of  pursuit,  even 
when  we  do  succeed,  is  greater  than  the  thing  is  worth,  and 
that  the  end  is  always  weariness  and  vexation,  generally 
disgust,  never  perfect  calm,  hearty  satisfaction.  "The 
wicked  eat,  but  have  not  enough ;  while  they  who  fear  the 
Lord  are  at  peace."  Moreover  while  he  is  thus  working  on 
the  understanding  of  the  sinner,  to  convince  him  that  the 
ways  of  sin  are  the  ways  of  folly,  God  often  begins  to  work 
on  his  fears.  He  lays  him  low  on  a  bed  of  sickness,  and 
sends  death  to  look  him  in  the  face,  and  to  whisper  in  his 
ear.  Condemnation  !  At  the  same  time  he  carries  some 
passage  of  Scripture,  which  speaks  of  God's  mercy  and  for- 
bearance, and  of  the  death  of  Christ  who  died  for  all,  that 
all  might  turn  to  God  and  live, — some  great  truth  of  this 
kind  will  God  take  care  to  aim  right  at  the  trembling 
sinner's  heart,  if  so  be  that  love  and  gratitude  may  move  him. 
Now  if  we  ask,  why  God,  who  is  a  righteous  judge  and 
strong,  is  also  patient,  although  we  are  provoking  him  daily, 
if  we  ask  why  he  does  not  pluck  his  right  hand  out  of  his 


god's  patience,  and  man's  perverseness.        569 

bosom  to  sweep  his  enemies  clean  away, — St.  Paul  tells  us 
in  the  text,  Because  his  goodness  would  lead  them  to 
repentance.  Does  it  ever  fail  of  this  blessed  effect  ?  Can 
God  be  good  and  merciful  in  vain  ?  Alas !  many  are  so 
hardened  and  headstrong,  that  they  will  not  profit  by  God's 
mercy.  In  vain  he  teaches,  in  vain  he  chastens,  in  vain  he 
calls  to  them.  They  despise  the  riches  of  his  goodness. 
When  I  say  they  despise  him,  I  do  not  mean  that  they  are 
mad  enough  to  declare  that  they  despise  God,  and  to  set 
him  at  defiance.  But  they  do  not  regard  him  or  his  dealings 
with  them  ;  they  shut  him  out  of  their  tongues  :  they  leave 
him  out  of  their  plans  :  they  go  on  just  as  if  there  was  no 
God,  no  judgment  to  come,  no  place  of  torment  for  the 
impenitent.  This  practical  disregard  for  their  Maker  and 
King  in  the  language  of  the  Bible  is  despising  God.  So  let 
none  deceive  himself  by  saying,  "  This  cannot  apply  to  me  : 
for  I  have  never  meant  to  despise  God."  The  question  is 
not,  what  you  have  meant,  but  what  you  have  done.  Have 
you  ever  thought  seriously  of  God's  goodness  to  you,  in  not 
cutting  you  off,  as  he  might  do  any  day,  in  the  midst  of 
your  sins  ?  Have  you  ever  considered  why  he  prolongs 
that  life  and  strength,  which  you  are  making  so  bad  a  use 
of?  Why  does  he  continue  to  you  the  power  of  speech, 
instead  of  striking  you  dumb  for  cursing  and  swearing  and 
using  so  many  bad  and  filthy  words  ?  Why  does  he  continue 
to  you  the  power  of  thought,  when  you  so  rarely,  if  ever, 
think  of  him  ?  Why,  in  a  word,  when  he  sees  you  sinning 
so  zealously  with  heart  and  mind,  and  eyes  and  ears,  and  in 
short  with  all  your  members, — why  does  he  continue  to  you 
the  full  and  free  enjoyment  of  all  those  members  and 
faculties,  which  you  are  so  ungratefully,  so  impiously  mis- 
using ?  Have  you  ever  thought  of  the  reason  why  God  has 
had  all  this  patience  with  you?  that  it  is  to  lead  you  to 
repentance.     If  you  have  never  thought  of  these  things,  if 


570  THE   ALTON    SERMONS. 

on  the  contrary,  you  are  saying  within  yourself,  "  Oh !  I 
have  plenty  of  time  before  me ;  I  am  young  and  strong : 
time  enough  to  think  of  another  world,  when  I  begin  to  tire 
of  this  :" — then  to  you  is  this  word  spoken.  Whether  you 
mean  it  or  not,  you  are  verily  guilty  of  despising  the  good- 
ness and  forbearance  of  your  God.  Can  any  guilt  well  be 
greater  ?  It  is  not  a  small  thing  that  you  are  despising ;  no  ; 
it  is  riches,  the  best  riches,  the  riches  of  the  mercy  of  the 
King  of  heaven.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  St.  Paul  calls  it 
riches.  He  would  teach  us  the  excellence  of  this  mercy, 
which  is  so  great,  that,  if  we  only  knew  the  true  value  of 
things,  we  should  fall  on  our  knees,  and  bless  God  with  all 
our  hearts  for  sparing  us  month  after  month,  and  year  after 
year,  that  we  may  have  time  and  opportunities  for  repentance. 
But  what  if  the  opportunities  are  given  in  vain  ?  What  if 
the  time,  which  should  have  been  spent  in  repentance  has 
been  employed  in  heaping  sin  upon  sin?  What  if  December 
leave  us  as  far  from  heaven  as  January  found  us,  but  with  a 
heavier  load  on  our  consciences,  and  a  deeper  stain  on  our 
souls  ?  Then  I  must  set  before  you  the  evil  end  of  such  a 
life  of  sin,  the  evil  end  of  going  on  year  after  year  despising 
the  riches  of  God's  goodness  and  forbearance.  The  wages 
of  sin  is  death.  The  end  of  rejecting  God's  mercy  must  be 
to  abide  the  fierceness  of  his  anger,  in  that  day  when  the 
Son  of  Man  comes  in  all  his  Father's  glory  to  execute 
judgment  on  the  wicked.  Against  that  day,  St.  Paul  tells 
us  in  the  text,  hardened  and  impenitent  sinners  are  treasur- 
ing up  for  themselves  wrath.  Pray  mark  the  word ;  for  it  is 
a  very  striking  one :  a  treasure  of  wrath  !  As  if  St.  Paul 
had  said,  "  If  ye  will  not  profit  by  the  riches  of  God's 
mercy,  God  has  riches  of  another  sort  in  store  for  you,  the 
riches,  the  overflowings  of  his  wrath."  Let  no  man  be  mad 
enough  to  say  within  himself,  I  will  lay  up  my  treasure  upon 
earth :  for  we  must  all  lay  up  treasure  in  heaven,  whether 


GODS    PATIENCE,    AND    MANS    PERVERSENESS.  57 1 

we  will  or  no.  We  are  all  laying  up  treasure  there  at  this 
moment ;  if  it  be  not  a  treasure  of  holiness,  it  must  be  a 
treasure  of  wrath.  Could  our  eyes  be  opened  to  behold  the 
secrets  of  the  next  world,  how  should  we  start  and  tremble 
at  seeing  this  mountain  of  wrath  and  misery  and  punish- 
ment, which  we  are  heaping  up  against  ourselves.  The 
covetous  muckworm  for  instance,  who  scrapes  up  penny 
upon  penny,  and  pound  upon  pound,  by  so  many  base,  dis- 
honest, oppressive  ways, — how  would  he  shudder  to  find 
the  treasure  he  delights  in,  a  treasure  not  of  money,  but  of 
wrath  !  The  drunkard,  who  wallows  in  strong  drink, — it 
might  rouse  even  him  from  his  deadly  lethargy,  could  he  see 
every  cup  of  drunkenness  swelling  a  stream  of  wrath  for 
him.  The  unclean  man,  who  offends  the  holy  Spirit  of  God 
by  his  adultery,  his  fornication,  his  impure  thoughts,  and 
filthy  words, — what  would  be  his  feelings,  if  he  saw  the  pile 
of  flaming  wrath,  which  his  pleasures,  as  he  deems  them, 
are  rapidly  raising  against  him  !  But  so  it  is,  whether  we  see 
it  or  not.  We  have  the  apostle's  word  for  it :  the  joys  of 
sin  are  joys  of  wrath  ;  the  wages  of  sin  are  wages  of  wrath  : 
the  treasures  of  sin  are  treasures  of  wrath,  and  vengeance, 
and  punishment,  and  misery  and  woe. 

Brethren,  is  it  worth  our  while,  for  such  treasures  as  these, 
to  slight  and  throw  away  the  riches  of  God's  mercy,  the 
riches  of  Christ's  prayers,  the  riches  of  the  graces  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  ?  These  last  may  be  yours,  if  you  will  have 
them.  God  is  not  niggardly  of  his  gifts  and  blessings.  He 
presses  his  offers  of  forgiveness  upon  sinners.  He  holds  out 
his  royal  pardon  to  them,  if  they  will  only  leave  their  sins, 
and  come  to  him,  and  take  it.  Remember  what  he  says  of 
himself  in  the  prophet  Isaiah  (Ixv.  2) :  "I  have  spread  out 
my  hands  all  the  day  to  a  rebellious  people."  Though  his 
people  were  rebellious,  yet  he  ceased  not  throughout  that 
day  to  stretch  out  his  hands  to  them,  and  beckon  to  them. 


572  THE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

So  does  he  beckon  to  us  too  :  but  it  is  only  through  the 
day,  the  day  of  grace.  If  we  hearken  not  to  his  invitations 
during  that  day,  the  call  ceases :  the  hand  which  would 
have  led  us  to  repentance,  is  withdrawn :  we  are  given  over, 
possibly  even  in  this  world,  to  a  reprobate  mind,  certainly 
in  the  next  world  to  punishment  everlasting.  Turn,  then,  I 
beseech  you,  while  the  day  of  grace  is  still  open  to  you. 
Let  the  time  past  suffice  us  to  have  spent  in  sin  ;  and  let  us 
endeavour  to  redeem  the  time  that  still  remains  to  us.  Let 
us  bury  our  ungodliness,  our  unrighteousness,  our  trans- 
gressions and  sins  of  every  kind,  in  the  grave  of  the  depart- 
ing year  :  and  with  a  new  year  let  us  begin  a  new  and 
spiritual  life, — a  life  not  merely  of  human  virtue,  but  of 
christian  hoHness  and  obedience. 

For  to  this  we  are  called.  Christ  did  not  give  us  his 
perfect  example, — he  did  not  preach  his  divine  sermon, — 
he  did  not  leave  us  so  many  promises  and  warnings,  so 
many  beautiful  and  touching  parables,  so  many  lessons  of 
every  kind, — he  did  not  purchase  for  us  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Comforter, — merely  to  make  us  what  the  world 
calls  decent  and  respectable.  The  better  of  the  heathens 
were  as  good  as  that,  ages  before  Christ's  coming.  If  we, 
with  all  our  greater  advantages,  do  not  soar  much  nearer  to 
heaven,  Jesus  Christ  has  lived  for  us  and  taught  us  in  vain. 
He  came  to  make  us  a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people, 
children  of  God  in  heart  and  spirit.  He  came  not  merely 
to  reconcile,  but  also  to  reunite  us  to  the  Father.  Until 
he  has  done  this  for  each  of  us, — until  he  has  raised  and 
lifted  us  up  from  common  human  virtue  to  godliness, — 
until  he  has  changed  our  natural  worldly  views  and 
motives  into  spiritual  thoughts  and  heavenly  desires, — 
his  work  in  us  is  not  accomplished.  Until  he  has  sown 
the  seeds  of  this  blessed  change  in  us,  his  work  in  us  is 
not  begun.     We  may  be  good  heathens,  or  good  Jews,  but 


god's  patience,  and  man's  PERVERSENESS.        573 

we  cannot  be  Christians,  unless  we  are  Christ's  people. 
And  how  can  we  be  Christ's  people,  unless  we  have  some- 
thing of  Christ's  spirit  in  us  ?  1  say,  something  of  the  same 
spirit.  I  do  not  say  that  you  will  ever  attain  to  the  fullness 
of  his  Spirit,  though  ye  ought  to  pray  and  strive  to  do  so ; 
as  St.  Paul  prayed  for  the  Ephesians,  that  they  might  be 
filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God.  But  I  do  tell  you,  that 
you  can  and  must  attain  to  a  portion  of  Christ's  spirit :  else 
you  are  none  of  Christ's.  We  must  be  golden,  as  he  was 
golden  :  and  then,  though  our  holiness  be  no  more  compar- 
able to  his,  than  the  smallest  gold  coin  is  comparable  to 
the  mines  of  Ophir,  still  we  are  of  the  same  metal,  and  his 
riches  will  make  up  for  our  poorness,  and  he  will  present  us 
as  an  offering  to  our  Father  and  our  God.  But  if  we  are  not 
of  the  right  metal,  we  are  mere  counterfeits ;  and  then  what 
can  the  name  of  Christian  avail  us  in  the  day  of  judgment? 
Many  a  bad  sovereign  professes  to  bear  the  king's  image  and 
superscription,  and  yet  may  not  be  worth  so  much  as  a  good 
shilling.  So  will  it  be  with  the  bad  Christian.  In  spite  of 
his  having  been  baptized  in  the  name  of  Christ,  a  good 
heathen  is  far  more  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God, 

To  those  among  you  therefore,  my  brethren,  who  are  still 
in  your  sins,  I  say,  depart  from  iniquity ;  cease  to  do  evil ; 
leave  off  your  evil  courses ;  and  turn  to  God  in  penitence 
and  prayer.  Is  any  present,  who  has  been  tempted  to  in- 
dulge in  strong  drink  ?  To  him,  I  say,  refrain  from  it ;  keep 
away  from  the  public-house,  from  the  beer-shop :  give  up 
your  jovial  companions  :  they  may  laugh  at  you  for  it ;  but 
never  mind  that  laugh,  so  long  as  you  feel  that  Christ  is 
smiling  on  you,  and  that  the  angels  are  rejoicing  over  you. 
Has  any  been  tempted  to  leave  the  path  of  truth  ?  To  him 
I  say,  put  away  lying,  and  speak  the  truth  in  everything  to 
your  neighbour.  Is  any  dishonest?  To  him  I  say,  steal 
no  more;  keep  your  hands  Irom  your  neighbour's  property; 


574  ^HE    ALTON    SERMONS. 

take  no  advantage  of  his  ignorance,  or  of  his  necessities ; 
deal  justly  and  fairly  by  him  in  everything.  If  there  be  any 
present,  who  have  hitherto  contented  themselves  with  being 
what  the  world  calls  good  sort  of  men,  to  them  I  say, 
remember  that  the  Gospel  requires  holiness  of  you.  Strive 
therefore  to  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  your 
Lord  and  Saviour  :  strive  to  become  Christians  in  reality,  as 
well  as  in  profession :  seek  to  obtain  that  spirit  of  Christ, 
which  is  never  refused  to  fervent  prayer,  and  the  study  of 
the  word  of  God.  Lastly,  to  those  who  have  already  set 
their  faces  toward  the  heavenly  city,  and  whose  hearts  bear 
them  joyful  testimony  that  they  have  begun  to  take  the  law 
of  God  for  their  rule  of  life, — to  those  what  need  be  said, 
but  that  they  pray  more  earnestly,  trust  more  entirely,  love 
with  greater  warmth  of  heart,  and  greater  purity  of  soul  ? 
Let  this  be  the  matter  of  your  prayers,  that,  as  God  has 
begun  his  good  work  in  you,  he  will  bring  the  same  to  full 
effect,  and  that,  as  you  have  already  received  how  you  ought 
to  walk  and  to  please  God,  you  may  abound  in  the  same 
more  and  more,  so  that  every  succeeding  year,  as  it  passes 
along  with  you,  may  bring  you  nearer  to  God,  and  may 
ripen  you  more  and  more  for  heaven. 


THE   END. 


fKiNlUU  BY   VIRTUK  AND   C0.«   CITY   ROAD,   LONDON. 


0 


